Concrete Angel
by LuvvyDuck
Summary: A followup of Life, the Negaverse and Everything, this goes deeper into Negaduck and NegaGosalyn's relationship. Rated K, but may nearly T later because of violence and mild language. UPDATED AT LAST!
1. Chapter 1

**Concrete Angel**

_A __Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_

by E. Grimes

**All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any   
other characters are my own personal copyright and may only be used with permission.   
__****La Author  
  
**  
**_My thanks to Bloodyban for that episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything"   
and her kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both which   
helped to make this story possible. You are awesome, BB!!! HUGS_**

**

* * *

**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
Since this story takes place mainly in Negaduck's world, the names of all   
characters in the Negaverse will be the same as their Normalverse opposites, i.e.   
"Gosalyn", "Launchpad", etc. The "Nega-" prefixes are added _only _if they're   
visiting the Normalverse or elsewhere. (Just so nobody's confused by all this. E.G.)  
**

**_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete Angel...  
_****  
(from "Concrete Angel", ©2003 by Martina McBride)**

_**Chapter I**_

She normally hurried home from school---though sometimes she asked herself why. It wasn't much of a home to speak of; yet it was the only one she had known for quite some time. It might have been all right if there had been a real family waiting for her when she got there.

Unfortunately, there wasn't--what she awoke to and returned home to every day of her life was the farthest thing from any semblance of a normal family. Yet like the dirty and sadly delapidated house, it was all she had. For this was the Negaverse: a world normal only to the people who lived there---especially to those who preferred the twisted dimension it was. And it was the only world that Gosalyn Mallard had known for all her ten years of life.

Yet there had been a time when she had lived in a normal home, with a real mother and father to love and care for her; but in just one afternoon, they were suddenly, senselessly and violently taken away from her, and a very sad and frightened little girl was left all alone in the world. That is, until_ he_ came: that mysterious, masked stranger wearing a red hat and black cape...the one that everyone called _Negaduck._

He had entered Gosalyn's life just as quickly and unexplicably as her parents had left it, taking her far away from the scene of their killing, far from her own home---and to a world and a life so changed...

She'd found herself in what Negaduck called 'home'---but it was nothing like any she remembered. The house was dreadfully messy; the furniture torn and broken, the utilities faulty. But strangely, most everyone there seemed to _like_ it that way. There was someone else living there, a brutish oaf called Launchpad; there were the equally brutal neighbours, the Muddlefoots. The one exception had been the oldest boy Tank, who dressed properly and was kindly and polite in his behaviour ( the "odd duck", his family sneeringly called him). But the youngest, Honker, was mean and rude, the very image of his parents Herb and Binkie; and the three of them fit all too easily within Negaduck and Launchpad's peculiar sphere.

Yet there had been those four strange and wonderful men Gosalyn had met one day---The Friendly Four, they were called, and they were like no one she had ever known before. One of them was a mutant plant-duck, Bushroot, who talked to plants and could make them do wondrous things. There was Liquidator, a dog made of liquid who could control water. Then there was that electrified rodent, Megavolt, who talked to light bulbs and fired electricity from his hands; and last of all, there was Quackerjack, a crazy but kindly duck in a jester's   
outfit who made the most fascinating toys...

They had all in a very short time become part of Gosalyn's new world...the old one gone, as if in a dream.

As for her new guardian, that was _all_ he actually seemed to be. Not a parent in the strict sense---for he hadn't adopted her that she knew of; he had merely demanded her unquestioning obedience and her complete conformity to his will, while not seeming to   
care about having her around. Yet in spite of all that, he had kept Gosalyn alive and reasonably cared for, and was quite insistent that she remain with him. Why, she didn't know; but she never dared to ask. And so she stayed with her tyrannical "father", learning to live with his volatile spirit, his fits of rage and his dark, violent world. She had patiently borne his insults and his complaints of how neat and well-mannered she was, and how much he despised her loving qualities.

"You're so sweet and cute," he would sneer in his harsh voice, "it just makes me sick."

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she would sadly answer.

_"What_ did I tell you to call _me??" _was the typical warning, and the deadly glare that followed.

"I...I'm sorry, _Lord Negaduck,"_ came the child's meek reply. And Negaduck would laugh, pleased with her at last--for the only way Gosalyn _could_ please him, it seemed, was to genuflect to his every demand. But the little girl bore it all...because she loved him.

Yes; she _loved_ Negaduck. That he did not return that love only saddened Gosalyn, who couldn't help what she felt. Her parents---her _real_ parents---had raised her with nothing else. It was all she could understand. She could never understand evil, nor why anyone would _want_ to be that way. But this strange and malevolent hoodlum was the closest thing to a father that she had now, and she thought of Launchpad as sort of a big brother---if only a very mean one. This, then, had been the life the little duckling had led since her parents' deaths---with nothing seeming to change. Until, one day...

There was that time when yet another mysterious person entered her world, and things were never quite the same again. He was someone who looked very much like Negaduck, yet his clothes were different. _He_ was different; for he did good rather than evil and seemed the exact opposite of everything her guardian was, and the world he came from just as opposite. He was proud and stubborn, but he was kind, too...he had actually put his arms   
around Gosalyn and _hugged_ her, something Negaduck flatly refused to do. And this good, brave person called himself_ Darkwing Duck._

In only the short time he'd been around, Darkwing Duck and The Friendly Four had literally cleaned up St. Canard---had actually made it _livable._ And even when Negaduck and his gang caught them all and tried to kill them, Darkwing managed to defeat the evildoers and overthrow Negs. But while Darkwing was following his enemy back to the Normalverse, something had happened: Negaduck mysteriously disappeared, and for a good length of time Gosalyn hadn't seen her guardian again. Yet in spite of Negaduck's treatment of her, she had missed him.

What had happened to him? she wondered. Was Negaduck all right? Had he decided to stay in the Normalverse and _never_ come back? Or was he hurt...perhaps even dead? The innocent child's heart ached at the thought of losing yet another parent...even if Negs had been the farthest thing from one. Then one day, he had suddenly come home---harried and enraged, but very much alive. He hadn't been at all happy to discover Gosalyn living with The Friendly Four, and quickly remedied that. After chasing off "those losers", then breaking Launchpad and the three Muddlefoots out of prison, the former ruler of the Negaverse wasted no time in re-asserting his "kingdom".

While his protegée was grateful to see him alive and safe, it was with a certain heaviness of heart that she resumed her life with Negaduck. For a brief time, Gosalyn had seen a better world: a world of clean air and pure water, of beauty and kindness. But now, the person who hated these things so much had returned to take them all away...and if life with Negs had been hard before, now, it seemed, it would be unbearable. The unhappy child tried hard to adapt to the way things had changed, but was constantly frustrated by her guardian and his brutal companions. She felt like a songbird that had been released from a cage, to soar freely through the sky and feel the sun on its wings---only to be caught again and its wings cruelly clipped off, never to be free again.

There was still something, however, that Negaduck _couldn't_ take away from her: her memories of that kinder, gentler and nobler opposite of himself, of how Darkwing Duck   
had made a real difference in the Negaverse...and in Gosalyn's life as well. She would never forget his gentle voice, or the warmth of his strong and fatherly embrace...and whenever  
things at home were especially hard on Gosalyn, she was all the more grateful to have those memories to cling to.

And so today, she was walking home quite slowly. After the way things had been lately between Negaduck and herself, she saw no reason to hurry home--not that, she felt, her guardian would care. She had barely been able to concentrate on her studies, tired as she was from lack of sleep the night before and her eyes still swollen from crying. In fact, she'd spent the whole day trying to look cheerful, yet fighting back tears, as Negaduck's hateful  
words from last night continued to echo in her mind:

"Trying to clean the place again, Little Miss Goody-Goody? How many times have I warned you to knock that off??! This is_ my_ house, and I run it _my_ way---_you're _just _living_ here! And you won't be very long if you don't learn to obey me...get it, you nauseating little _brat???"_

And Gosalyn had nodded sadly, her face blushing painfully at the sound of Launchpad snickering. She had listened humbly, not daring to answer back...knowing it would do no good anyway. Then she had retreated quietly to her room---grateful at least that it was a slight change from the rest of the house---where she threw herself on her bed, hugging her pillow tightly, silently crying out her misery and wondering what cruel trick of Fate had  
placed her with someone like Negaduck...

_Why did he even take me in?_ Gosalyn was asking herself as she trudged on absently, her mind still on last night's painful events. _Why does Negaduck keep me with him? He doesn't love me. He doesn't even act like he WANTS me most of the time..._

"Hey, Gos--wait up!" called Tank Muddlefoot, startling the duckling out of her thoughts.

"Oh....hi, Tank!" Gosalyn replied hastily, pasting a weak smile on her face as her friend caught up with her. She would have been quite surprised to discover that the oldest Muddlefoot boy had a twin in the Normalverse who was nearly as mean as her guardian (she doubted that _anyone_ was meaner than Negaduck).

"Hey...are you all right?" the neatly-dressed boy asked softly, his face filled with concern.

"Sure!" Gosalyn answered cheerfully, but Tank shook his head.

"Negaduck jumped on you again, didn't he? We could hear him yelling clear down the block. Mom and Dad and Honker thought it was pretty funny," he said with a dark frown. "But_ I_ didn't!"

"Neither did I," the little girl replied, sighing heavily. "Dad caught me trying to clean house again. I'm just tired of it looking so awful."

She asked herself sometimes why she called Negaduck "Dad"--though she was never allowed to call him_that_ to his face. It was _Lord Negaduck,_ or nothing.

Just then, a small but quite aggressive boy dressed in black leather came up and stood in their path. It was Honker Muddlefoot; that he and his parents had more benevolent opposites as Darkwing Duck's neighbours would have been just as startling---especially to themselves.

"Hey, Four-Eyes! Mom wants you to go to the store!" he sneered at his older brother. "She and Dad are havin' Lord Negaduck and Launchpad over, and she said get some bread and Coo-Coo Cola or she'll kick your butt all over the house!"

"All right," Tank snapped at him. "But what about Gosalyn?"

"The nerd-bomber? Yeah, _what_ about her?" Honker asked, smirking at the red-haired duckling.

"Well, _she's_ invited, isn't she?"

Honker shrugged. "I don't know---I don't care. Fact, I hope so--we could all have fun laughing at that stupid pink dress she always wears," he remarked, laughing cruelly at  
the crushed look on Gosalyn's face.

"Why don't you leave her alone?" demanded the older Muddlefoot youth.

"Why don't you _make_ me??"

"Don't push it," growled Tank, clenching his fists.

"Ooooh, I'm shakin'! Bring it on, why don't ya, geekazoid?" snarled his younger brother.

The two were just getting in each other's faces when their mother came up the street.

"Now Honker, don't fight! You'll ruin your nice new bomber jacket. And Tank...?" said Binkie, staring in surprise at her elder son's clenched fists and angry expression. "Is that _you_ trying to be tough like your little brother?" She laughed heartily. "Oh, my! That's so  
cute. You'll never be the he-man _he_ is, sweetheart, but you're_ so_ adorable for trying!" She pinched his face quite hard and shoved some money into his hand. "Now run along, you poor pitiful thing."

As Tank sighed resignedly and walked away, Binkie turned her attention on Gosalyn. She frowned and shook her head in disgust at the frilly pink dress and long red curls.

"Tch! Gosalyn, honey, that outfit simply will _not_ do! You must start dressing _much __less_ ladylike, my dear."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" asked the little girl.

"Oh, you _can't_ be serious! You look like a little sugar-coated pastry, or something like that. Ick! Why, no _wonder_ Lord Negaduck can't stand you! You simply _must_ let me take charge of your attire, sweetie."

"Uh...no thank you, Mrs. Muddlefoot," Gosalyn said politely, though she was quite hurt at Binkie's words.

"Nonsense! Why don't you come with me, hon?" Taking Gosalyn firmly by the arm, Binkie started to drag her toward the Muddlefoot home.

"I'll cut off all those silly curls and paint some _lovely_ blue streaks in your hair, and you could wear one of my old outfits. And tomorrow, I'll take you to the mall and have your ears pierced--maybe even your _tongue!_Won't that be nice, Gosalyn dear?" she declared, giggling.

_"Wait!! _Tank, I'll go with you!" Gosalyn called back, pulling away in horror and running frantically up to Tank, who seemed to have been waiting for her. The black-clad Muddlefoot housewife stood glaring after them, quite annoyed.

"Oh, that little idiot! I'm only trying to help," she grumbled, as she went back to her kitchen.

"That was close," Gosalyn whispered to Tank with relief. "I think I'll just have my dinner at home, Tank."

"I don't blame you," the boy answered, grinning understandingly. "I think _I'd _better bow out too. Just having my family around is scary enough without putting up with those other two!"

He took Gosalyn's hand protectively and they walked quickly uptown, their footsteps becoming lighter as they got farther away from their neighborhood.

Later, as they were leaving the supermarket, they passed a small statuary shoppe. Gosalyn often liked to stop by there and look at the displays; in spite of herself, today was no exception. But this time, something quite extraordinary caught the little girl's eye...

"Oh, Tank! _Look!" _she gasped in delight, pointing in the window. Her friend stopped and stared in surprise.

"Whoa...since when do they have something like _that_ around here??" he exclaimed.

Just inside the shoppe window sat a porcelain statue of an angel. Its hair and wings were carved so delicately that they seemed almost real; its face was breathtakingly lovely, its eyes gazing softly out at Gosalyn---as if the heavenly being knew of Gosalyn's plight and pitied her.

"Oh, Tank...she's so beautiful!" Gosalyn said wistfully. "I want her so much..."

Tank frowned, knowing that Negaduck would not only refuse to buy his ward such an object, but would be more than happy to smash it to pieces. He felt it best not to comment, however.

"I _do_ have a birthday coming!" Gosalyn went on. "Maybe Dad might get it for my birthday!"

"Uh...well...yes, I hope so," Tank replied, though privately he didn't _think_ so. "C'mon, Gos, let's get back home before Mom has a fit."

It was hard for Gosalyn to tear her gaze away from the statue, but she reluctantly followed the Muddlefoot youth. Yet her mind was filled with the beauty of the angel's face, which comforted her spirit and for a short time made her forget her troubles.

_Maybe if I'm really good...or bad, whatever Dad wants---and do my best to please him,_ she thought, _maybe he'll buy me that angel after all! Oh, please...let him do something nice for me, for a change!_

She ran home, her heart light with hope for the first time in months.

**End Chapter I**


	2. Chapter 2

Concrete Angel_  
A __Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters   
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author  
  
My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her   
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.__  
__  
_

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE :_  
As mentioned in Chapter I: all names of Negaverse characters are the same as in the Normalverse,   
unless they "crossover" someplace else. And many thanks to all my kind reviewers---YOU RULE!!!

_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved_  
_Concrete Angel..._

from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

_Chapter II_

It had become typical of Gosalyn to peek cautiously through the front window of her home, rather than burst  
impetuously into the house as children often do. She could never be sure when Negaduck or Launchpad---or  
Heaven forbid, _both _of them---might be in an ugly mood, and had learned through awkward experience not to  
do anything to set them off.

The living room looked empty; the sound of the TV playing from a distance told her that at least one of her  
"family" was in the kitchen, so Gosalyn crept inside, softly closing the door. She glanced toward the kitchen  
to find Launchpad watching one of his favourite car wrecks-and-gunplay movies on their old black and white  
portable. He was sitting in his normal slovenly manner, guzzling soda and eating a big bag of chips, with his   
dirty boots propped up on the dining table. He seemed not to notice Gosalyn; which was perfectly fine with   
her. She glanced quickly around the rest of the house---no Negaduck in sight. With a silent sigh of relief, she   
padded off toward her room.

"Hey, Pinky!!!" boomed out Launchpad's voice from the kitchen. "C'mere a second!"

The little girl duck sighed and rolled her eyes upward in a martyred glance. _Pinky_ was one of Launchpad's  
favourite names to call Gosalyn, since she wore pink much of the time; and like all of Launchpad's names,   
it was never meant as a compliment.

"Coming, Launchpad!" she replied cheerfully as she ran back to the kitchen, not daring to keep him waiting.  
"What is it?" she asked him, forcing a smile.

"We're supposed ta go t'the Muddlefoots t'night---they're havin' one o' their stupid barb'cues," replied the   
mercenary pilot, not taking his eyes off of the tv at first. "Oh, yeah!" he added, turning to glare at her and   
pointing a warning finger. "Lor' Neg'duck sez you better put on somethin' black an' brush out them ugly  
curls o' yours. You an' that sissy-boy Tank embarrassed us somethin' awful, last time we ate over there!"

"Oh...I'm sorry, Launchpad," Gosalyn answered, trying not to look hurt. "But don't worry," she continued   
brightly, "I'll just stay home tonight, if Lord Negaduck doesn't mind."

Launchpad was fortunately as ignorant as he was mean, so he only gawked sternly at her for some moments  
before he shrugged and turned back to his movie. "Whatever...more for us," he smirked, downing his soda   
and belching loudly. Food, weapons and violence were all that mattered to him.

But Gosalyn nodded and returned to her room as quickly as she could, grateful that at least her brutal   
"brother" had no problem with the matter.

She was placidly doing her homework when she heard the front door slam, followed by a familiar gruff  
and very loud voice---both announcing Negaduck's presence in the house.

"Where's Little Miss Sugar Loaf?" she heard him snap.

"Ah, she went t' her room, I think," was Launchpad's reply.

_"Gosalyn!!!"_ Negaduck barked, going up to the child's room and pounding on her door. "I wanna talk to  
you, little missy!"

Gosalyn jumped---literally. "I'll be right there, Da---Lord Negaduck!"

She ran to the door, just as Negaduck was ready to kick it open, and found herself looking up into her  
guardian's typical scowl.

"What're you doing??" he demanded.

"My...my homework," Gos answered softly.

"Well, knock it off---I don't want you bringin' any more lousy A's on your report card! Anyway, listen   
up: those knobs next door invited us over tonight---"

"Uh...I just told 'er about it, Lor' Neg'duck," Launchpad broke in.

"Do I _look_ like I'm talking to _you,_ Lunkhead?" snarled Negaduck, wheeling on his sidekick with a   
dangerous glare.

"Uh...nope..."

"Then SHUDDUP before I knock your teeth out!!!"

Launchpad looked unusually meek.

_"Anyway,"_ continued the mercenary mallard, giving LP one more glare before turning it on Gosalyn,  
"None of us want you wearing your prissy-lookin' crap this time. You're gonna show up _looking _like   
Lord Negaduck's daughter, not some puky little 'Cinderella' clone! Get it?"

Before the stunned little girl could reply, Negaduck threw some dark clothing onto Gosalyn's bed. She   
stared in dismay at the black leather skirt and the ragged black T-shirt with a skull-and-crossbones on   
it, in red. _Blood _red.

"You want me to wear _that??"_ she asked, trying not to sound as repulsed as she certainly was.

"Yeah, kid, I do. That Muddlefoot broad sent them over!"

(He never called Binkie by her first name, Gosalyn noticed; nor even addressed her as 'Mrs. Muddlefoot',   
though he was slightly more civil with her husband---_very_ slightly. Even when speaking directly to Binkie,   
Negs usually said "Hey, you", or something similar.)

"And another thing," Negaduck went on, glowering at Gosalyn's red hair, "get rid of those _stupid_ curls   
and put your hair up in a pony tail or something, will ya?"

Gosalyn turned quickly, struggling to smile. "Uh...Lord Negaduck? Can I stay home tonight..._please?"_

Negs narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How come? Don't like my company?" he said mockingly, always  
happy to make his protegé squirm.

"I...I just don't feel like coming over tonight," insisted the child. Seeing that her guardian didn't appear   
convinced, she lowered her eyes, swallowed hard and bit her bottom beak as she stammered nervously:

"I...don't...feel...good..."

Negs raised an eyebrow, somewhat startled---for this was the first time Gosalyn had lied to him. _Ever._  
His eyes bored into her for some seconds.

"Oh, _really?"_ he asked at last, with a wry smirk. Gosalyn nodded, feeling very much ashamed of herself.

Negaduck began chuckling, then burst out into raucous laughter that was an odd mixture of scorn and  
pleasant surprise.

"You're gonna have to learn to lie better than _that, _kiddo," he said with a roguish grin. "But I guess I'll  
give you credit for trying; maybe there's hope for you at last, Miss Goody-Goody! Okay, stay home,  
then...like _we_ really care!"

He roughly mussed up Gosalyn's red hair and walked off, still laughing. The little girl stood watching him  
a few moments, smoothing her hair down and hating herself for what she'd said---there was no such thing   
as a "little white lie" in her mind.

_Well, I DIDN'T feel so good after I saw those awful clothes,_ she thought; so maybe it wasn't _too_ much  
of a lie. What was more, for once she had pleased Negaduck---actually _pleased _him. She couldn't help   
but smile as she recalled the surprised look on his face, and his words of "encouragement". Perhaps if  
she surprised him like that a few more times, then he really _would _get her that angel statue she wanted  
so badly...

At peace with her world at last, Gosalyn smiled and went back to her homework---making sure to do  
it all wrong this time.

Gosalyn wasn't the only one steering shy of the Muddlefoot gathering that evening; Tank also managed to   
find an excuse to bow out. Although neither of them seemed exactly missed, both families noted their   
absence from the Muddlefoots' picnic table.

"So where'd _Tank_erbell run off to?" Negaduck asked with a smirk as they were all slicing into some thick  
T-bones. He was even worse than Launchpad about insulting nicknames; and as usual, LP was mainly   
interested in eating.

"Oh, him? He said he had a Boy Scout meeting to go to," answered Binkie with disgust. But she was  
puzzled. "I didn't know Tank joined the Boy Scouts...in fact, I didn't think we even _had_ any here!"

Negs frowned. "We _don't---_I abolished them a long time ago; unless you'd count that little group of  
mercenaries I trained awhile back. But that big sissy wouldn't join _them!"_

"Aw, he's lyin'," sneered Honker. "He just ditched all of us---didn't wanna hafta wear that old Muttley  
Crue T-shirt of Dad's. I say, good riddance to the jerk!"

"An' where's da liddle powder-puff?" Herb wanted to know. "Me an' th' wife wuz lookin' forward ta  
seein' her wearin' somethin' _decent_ fer a change!"

Launchpad looked up from his plate but for a second. "She don't feel good, she sez."

Negaduck scoffed. "Yeah, right. _She's _lying, too. Did a pretty pitiful job of it; I've gotta teach Gos to come  
up with some _real _whoppers."

"Well, that's strange," Binkie said as she poured Negs more Coo-Coo Cola. "It's not like _her_ to lie. And   
Tank's a very poor liar, too!"

"Ya reckon they're up ta somethin'?" suggested Herb.

"I wouldn't be surprised! But don't worry---we'll cross that little bridge when we get to it," replied Negs with  
his usual wicked smile. "Right now, it's nice to have _both_ those losers off our backs."

But he wondered privately---what _was _Gosalyn up to? Either she was trying to pull something on him,  
or else she wanted some sort of favor. She wouldn't have stooped to telling even the smallest of fibs,  
unless she had some ulterior motive in mind. No matter; he'd get to the bottom of it sooner or later.  
_Nobody_ pulled the proverbial wool over Lord Negaduck's eyes---least of all his disgustingly sweet  
little girl who couldn't even lie to him properly...

End Chapter II 


	3. Chapter 3

**Concrete Angel__**  
**A ****_Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes**

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author  
  
My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.__  
__  
_

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE :_

I apologize for taking so long with this story. I've had oodles of projects, etc. in the works:  
at least two other fics in progress; art, job-hunting, studying, etc., plus running various  
websites and forums (_exactly_ in that order, which suggests how whacked-up my priorities  
are these days); writer's block and assorted other 'junk' to deal with. So many thanks for  
your patience so far, my faithful readers, and hang in there---I'll try to make it worth the wait.  
  
By the way, if this particular chapter seems as dull and uneventful as the last one may  
have been, don't worry---it's just the proverbial calm before the storm. And I reckon  
you all know the drill by now, but again with the names: no 'Nega'-anybody _unless_  
they leave the Negaverse. (This is the last time I'll mention that. I promise.)

Thanks again to all my kind reviewers. I'll try to stay deserving of your praise! _E.G._

_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved_  
_Concrete Angel..._

from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

_Chapter III_

_  
_Thankful that she had the house to herself at last, Gosalyn had meanwhile finished her homework and  
now went to the kitchen to scrounge up something for her own dinner. It was remotely possible that  
Binkie _might_ save her a plate of food (if LP didn't scarf it down), but that didn't matter to Gos. The  
few hours of peace meant far more.

Not that it was the first time Gosalyn had been alone in the house; often Negs and Launchpad would  
leave her by herself while they went on their criminal exploits. Sometimes they were gone for days---  
the thought that Gos might get sick or hurt, or that the house might catch fire, seemed not to concern  
them. In spite of the freedom and quiet they allowed (unless the Muddlefoots showed up), the long  
periods of isolation were at times lonely and frightening for the child. She found it difficult then not to  
think of her parents...or the terrible way they had died. At such times, Gosalyn wasn't sure what was  
worse: her guardians being around or their _not_ being around. It was Tank and the Friendly Four that  
made the loneliness bearable; as for Negaduck, had he behaved more kindly to Gosalyn, she could  
have cared less if he had been the devil himself.

As Gosalyn walked through the filthy and dimly-lit kitchen, she cringed---why couldn't her family at  
least be a little cleaner? Well, at least there was plenty of food. There had to be; LP alone could run  
up a huge grocery bill. Finding a plate of cold ham and some cheese in the refrigerator, Gos was about  
to make a sandwich when Tank poked his head in the back door.

"Gos? Is the coast clear?" he asked cautiously.

"Hi, Tank! LP and Dad are both next door," Gosalyn replied. "Won't you come in? I'm making dinner.  
Want a sandwich or something?"

"No, thanks. Listen, they'll all be hanging out till late tonight. I even heard Dad say they might go on a  
bank heist together. So how about if we go see the gang?"

Gosalyn's face lit up---she hadn't seen The Friendly Four in a long time. Never minding the sandwich,  
she ran off happily with Tank in search of their friends.

* * *

Even though Negaduck despised them and had strictly warned Gosalyn to stay away from them, she and  
Tank still managed to slip away now and then to visit The Friendly Four, who had gone into hiding again  
since Negs' return. After Darkwing trained them during his brief visit to the Negaverse, for some time they  
had cleaned up St. Canard and kept it safe. They were still working in secret to do that---Negs' return  
hadn't weakened and discouraged them as much as he'd hoped. For the Four hadn't forgotten Darkwing  
either, nor the way the Mighty Masked Mallard had changed their lives. Therefore, even in hiding they  
remained the vigilant heroes...Darkwing's Ducks, as they called themselves; hoping for the day when they  
could liberate the city once more. There were several of Negaduck's thugs and certain Negaverse citizens  
trying to hunt them down, but The Four had their supporters as well. Like the Resistance in World War II  
Europe, there were people who helped and even sheltered the heroes.

Their hiding place was situated in a wooded area outside of town, in a cabin they had built themselves.  
It was semi-rustic, but cozy and safe; Bushroot stationed several tree 'guards' to make sure it stayed that  
way. It was one of those same guards that alerted him of the children's arrival, and the mutant plant-duck  
rushed out eagerly to greet his little friends.

"Hey, guys---look who's back!" he cried joyfully, hugging Tank with one vine-like arm and cuddling Gos  
in the other.

"Geez...yell a little louder, Bushy, Negs can't quite hear you!" Megavolt snapped, but he brightened at  
the sight of the young visitors. "Hey, kids, where ya been?" he exclaimed, hugging them both.

"Yeah! We haven't played together in sooooooooo long!" lamented Quackerjack, as he and Liquidator  
joined in the affectionate greeting.

"We've missed you too, guys!" Gosalyn said, laughing as she tried to embrace Likky's watery form.

"I'm just about to cook dinner," Megavolt declared. "You kids hungry?"

Tank and Gosalyn nodded eagerly. "Our folks are busy elsewhere, so we sneaked out to see you,"  
the Muddlefoot boy explained with a sly smile. "We wanted some _pleasant_ company for a change."

"Aha! Parental guidance getting you down? Has home life become a drag? Let quality time with The  
Friendly Four give you _fast relief!"_ quipped Likky, striking his usual dramatic pose.

Everyone laughed good-naturedly. Indeed, it _was_ pleasant company for a change.

After dinner, Gosalyn insisted on helping Liquidator wash the dishes. Tank, meanwhile, was playing  
checkers with Quackerjack, but not really concentrating on the game.

"C'mon, Tank! That's the third time I've 'kinged' you already!" QJ said in concern. "You usually beat  
the socks off me everytime. What's wrong, lil' buddy?"

"Tch...as if we didn't know?" Megavolt put in with a sad smile. They had all noticed the children  
getting rather quiet and uneasy as the time went by. They didn't need to ask the reason.

"Would you like to talk about it, Tank?" Bushroot asked gently. "Gosalyn, too?"

The big boy frowned a little. "Let's go outside and talk. We'll just let Gos enjoy herself for now."

"So...how are things at home, Tank?" Megavolt inquired as they went out on the porch. "Gettin' any  
better at all?"

Tank shook his head sorrowfully. "No. In fact, I think they're getting worse for Gosalyn."

"How much worse?" Quackerjack asked worriedly.

"Ever since Negaduck came back and all, he's made her more miserable all the time. He's been jumping  
on her a lot lately---and Launchpad's just as mean to her as ever. So are Honker and my folks."

The men frowned. "They haven't hurt her, I hope!" said QJ, his eyes tearing at the thought.

"No...so far," was the anxious reply.

"They'd better _not!!" _Megavolt growled, raising his electrified hands threateningly. "I'll fry their feathers  
off!"

"I'll sic every tree in St. Canard after them if they hurt you kids---and no one better hurt my sweet little  
Gossy!" Bushroot swore, shaking a leafy fist.

"Right!" Tank added. "Don't worry, guys---I'll keep an eye on Gos."

"You be careful too, Tank," QJ said kindly, ruffling the boy's hair a little. The Muddlefoot youth smiled.

"I'll be okay," he said bravely. "I can handle Honker, at least."

"We'll check on you two whenever we can," Bushroot promised.

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Tank asked. "Half of St. Canard's after you---we don't want the  
four of you risking your lives for us!"

Megavolt shrugged. "We have to risk 'em anyway!"

_"Someone_ must erase the ugly stains from our fair city!" announced Liquidator as he came outside  
with Gosalyn. "Meanwhile, our Miss Gosalyn is ready to go home..."

"So _soon?" _Quackerjack protested.

Gosalyn sighed, and nodded somberly. "They'll probably be back soon...but I had a nice time!" she  
added brightly, not wishing to worry her friends. "And thank you for dinner, everybody."

"Yeah, thanks guys. It was great. We'll try to see you again soon," Tank said.

"But wait---there's more!" Likky declared. "Public announcement: a certain young lady has a _birthday_  
coming up!"

Quackerjack laughed happily and did a handstand. "Yahoo!!! Think you kids can make it then?" he  
begged. "I'd love a party!"

Gosalyn also laughed. "I hope so! We'll sure try, anyway!" She hugged the jester duck and the other  
three heroes and kissed them all goodbye.

"Be careful out there, baby," Bushroot added, kissing the child on the forehead. "And if things get  
really bad, send word to us. Get out as quickly as possible..."

"I will," Gosalyn whispered, with a brave smile.

"Don't delay---act immediately!" Likky advised as the children walked away. He and the others  
watched until the little faces disappeared in the woods. Then they all sighed.

"I wish those poor little things wouldn't go home to those fiends!" lamented Megavolt.

Quackerjack sat down on the porch, listlessly playing with his yo-yo. "I hate to see them so unhappy,"  
he groaned.

Bushroot stared out into the darkening forest, his face anxious. "You know, guys," he said slowly, "I  
hate to say this, but I don't have a good feeling about Gosalyn."

The others gave him a startled glance, but had to agree. "Yeah, you know what Tank said---Negs is  
really getting mean to her now," was Megavolt's comment.

"You don't think he'll hurt her?" Likky asked, unable to think of his usual quotes for the moment.

"I'm surprised he hasn't already---or _killed_ her, for that matter," Bushroot replied.

"Don't say that!" wailed Quackerjack. "Oh, _why_ doesn't she leave that house and stay with us---people  
who _care_ about her? _Why_ would she live with that evil ol' Negaduck?"

"The world may never know," Liquidator added, shaking his head sorrowfully.

* * *

Fortunately for Tank and Gosalyn, both of their houses were empty when the children returned shortly  
after dusk. As Tank had supposed, everyone had gone prowling through town. Not wishing to take  
any further chances, the Muddlefoot boy went home. But Gosalyn, who would normally have gone on  
to bed, decided sitting up late and watching TV would further impress her guardian. As a last touch,  
she smeared chocolate syrup on the kitchen counter and kicked over the trash barrel.

She wasn't used to staying up past her bedtime, however; so when Negaduck and Launchpad finally  
came home around 2 a.m. they found the red-haired duckling huddled up in the cold kitchen, asleep  
with her head on the table. The TV, meanwhile, was still playing.

"Hey, cool---they're showin' 'The Duckinator' again!" Launchpad chuckled, then he glanced down  
in surprise at the sleeping Gosalyn. "Hey...what's Pinky doin' up?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" snapped Negaduck, shaking the child roughly. "Hey, brat---wake up!  
Why aren't you in bed at this hour?"

The little girl grunted, only half-awake. _"Please_ let me go to school, Daddy," she mumbled, laying her  
head back down.

"I ain't 'Daddy'---that's 'Lord Negaduck' to you, little Miss Saccharine!" barked Negs.

Startled by her guardian's voice, Gosalyn snapped to attention. "Uh...h-hi, Lord Negaduck! Did you  
and Launchpad have a good time?" she asked sweetly.

"Haw-haw! Yeah!!" broke in LP, smirking. "We held up a bank _and_ tore up an old ladies' home!"

"Shut it!!!" Negaduck snarled at him. He half-dragged, half-yanked Gosalyn out of the chair and  
shook a finger at her. "Since when do _you_ stay up late around here, little missy?"

Gosalyn swallowed hard. 'I...I just wanted to watch TV, Lord Negaduck," she insisted, worried now  
that lying to Negs was starting to get easier. 'I'll go to bed now, if you want..."

She started for her room, but Negaduck blocked her path and glowered down at her.

"Oh, no---_not_ yet, little lady!" he growled. "And knock off that lying---I want the _truth_ this time!!"

Gosalyn's jaw dropped, and LP nearly choked on the soda he was drinking. "Since _when??"_ he  
blurted at Negs. A deadly glare from the red-hatted duck discouraged any further comments.

Gosalyn was just as astonished. Didn't Negaduck _want_ her to tell lies and do other 'bad' things? She  
wondered if she would _ever_ figure him out.

"You want me to tell the _truth??"_ she questioned weakly.

"Yeah. Life's just full of little surprises, isn't it, _sweetheart?"_ Negs replied mockingly. "Now I wanna  
know what's goin' on with you, kid. The way you've been lying and doing other weird stuff that you  
never used to do before. Stuff I always _wanted_ you to do. Either you're up to something, you brat,  
or you _want_ something!"

The little girl duck stared down at the floor. Did she dare mention what she wanted?

"I'm _waiting,"_ Negs hissed between his teeth, raising Gosalyn's head firmly until her soft eyes met  
his cold stare.

"I..._did_ want something, Lord Negaduck," the child answered in a choked voice. "See, my birthday's  
in a couple of days..."

At the revelation, Negs let go of Gosalyn's face and laughed himself nearly to tears. "I _knew_ it!" he  
exclaimed triumphantly, in between harsh guffaws. "I might have known it was all an act, Miss  
Goody-Goody! You're not even good at being _bad!"_

Seeing her guardian's change in mood, Gosalyn saw her advantage. "There's this little shoppe uptown,  
Lord Negaduck...you know, it's close to that big bank you always like to rob. There's a little statue in  
the window...and I really, _really_ want it, Lord Negaduck!" The words seemed to just tumble out of her.  
"If it's okay with you---please, please, _please?"_

Negs looked as though he'd eaten a green persimmon. "Kid, I'll buy you anything if you never, _ever_  
whine at me like that again!" he said with a shudder of disgust. "Now get to bed before you make me  
sick."

"Okay," Gosalyn said calmly, though inside her heart was dancing. She went off to brush her teeth,  
then went to bed...dreaming of her precious angel and feeling that things were getting better at last.

* * *

The next day, Gosalyn had gone on to school---now that she was sure of getting the statue, she felt  
it was no longer necessary to get in Negaduck's good (if that was quite the word) graces. At the  
same time, she felt it wise not to displease him in any way.

Negaduck, meanwhile, had spent all night counting the money he'd stolen and was going to bed.  
Launchpad was on his way to the playground to terrorize the local children and steal their toys---  
one of the cruel thug's favorite pasttimes. He was just going out the door when Negs snapped  
at him.

"Hey, Lug Nut! Before you go to 'work', I've got a little errand for you."

"Rob another bank?" LP asked excitedly. Obviously, his goals were limited.

"Naw...you can if you want to, though. You know that big, fancy one downtown? The brat mentioned  
some store next to it---it's got some stinkin' statue in the window she wants. Get that thing and bring it  
home, and maybe the little snot will leave me alone for awhile!"

"Er...okay. Gonna need some money, though..." LP replied. Negs raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Since when does Lord Negaduck need _money_ to get what he wants around here??" he reminded the  
pilot. "Just break the #%$ window and get it, stupid!!"

LP shrugged. "Okey-dokey." He put on his Waddleman stereo and walked out.

"Dumb jerk," Negaduck sneered as he went to his room. "If he had a brain, he'd _really_ be dangerous..."

* * *

"Heh hehhhh!!! Ya _bettah _run, ya little trolls!!" Launchpad shouted in sadistic glee, as yet another crowd  
of children ran screaming from the playground after the mercenary duck fired his AK-47 in the air. "That'll  
teach 'em ta play with stupid teddy bears an' stuff." He glared down at the plush animals and other toys the  
frightened kids had dropped. "Say, what'll I do with all that junk?" He thought for a few minutes. "Pinky's  
birthday's tomorrah...I could bag 'em up an' give 'em t' her. Nah...Lor' Negs'll get ticked off. Sure don't  
want_ that."_

Suddenly he remembered his 'errand'. "Oh, yeah...that dumb statue. Where is that place?"

He finally found the shoppe, after standing and staring at the St. Canard 1st National Bank alongside it,  
debating whether or not to rob it first._ Maybe later,_ he thought. _Better do what Lor' Negs said right  
now..._

There were actually _two_ statues in the shoppe window when he got there. Gosalyn hadn't mentioned  
the angel; it had been the only figure there when she had first seen it. Unknown to her, the shoppe owner  
had just put a different one on display next to it. _Very _different, in fact: the newest statue was that of a  
gargoyle, whose ugly face and frightening glare were startling contrast to the sweet and beautiful angel.

LP gawked stupidly at both statues, cringing at sight of the angel. "Aw, crud...Pinky don't want _that_ thing,  
does she?" he asked himself. Though it certainly _looked_ like something 'Pinky' would want. But he grinned  
roguishly when he saw the gargoyle. "Now _that's_ more like it!" he said. "Lor' Neg'duck would_ really_ go for  
a thing like that there..."

"Is that a gift, sir? Would you like me to wrap it up for you?" the shoppe owner asked timidly.

"Naw!! I'll just bag 'er up myself!" LP sneered, smashing in the window with his fist and stuffing the gargoyle  
into his trash sack. "I love shoppin'!" he exclaimed, laughing cruelly as he ran off.

He didn't see Tank watching him from a nearby corner. The oldest Muddlefoot boy had followed him in  
secret, wondering if Gosalyn was indeed going to get her beloved statue. Seeing what Launchpad had  
picked out, the boy groaned. "I'd better tell The Friendly Four...poor Gosalyn'll have a fit when she sees  
_that_ thing!"

While Tank ran off to find The Four, Launchpad went home to show his 'purchase' to Negaduck.

"Did you _have_ to wake me up, you dumb ape??" snarled the menacing mallard sleepily.

"But I got th' statue," LP insisted, fishing it out of the sack. "See?"

Negaduck liked it, of course; but still he was surprised. A _gargoyle??_ "Gosalyn couldn't have wanted  
_that,"_ he said uncertainly. LP shrugged.

"They got some silly lookin' angel in th' windah, too. But Pinky just said 'get me th' statue' ...she didn't  
say 'angel' er nuthin' ..."

Negaduck yawned. He'd figure it out later. "Whatever. We'll give it to her tomorrow. If she doesn't want  
it, she can give it to _me,"_ he reasoned, chuckling as he turned over and went back to sleep. LP as usual  
went off to raid the refrigerator and watch TV, after first putting the bag in a closet.

"Man, is Pinky gonna be surprised!" he said to himself, smirking at the thought of Gosalyn's face when  
she found her 'present' the next day.

**End Chapter III**


	4. Chapter 4

**Concrete Angel**_**  
**__A __Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes

_  
_

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author  
  
My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible._

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE :_

So far, the first three chapters of this story have been on the rather mild side. This and the chapters  
to follow will deal with some pretty intense and painful stuff---if not involving actual child abuse (and  
some will), at least bordering on it. My fuss is probably greater than the 'danger' after all, but if any  
of you out there get freaked out or even have nightmares---well, Aunt Brideofbasil tried to warn you.

Also, while it won't hardly happen in this chapter, I realize some of you (maybe all of you?)  
are horrified when Negaduck seems to get out of character in some fics. That's somewhat  
understandable, and I'll try as hard as I can to be faithful to Negaduck's personna. But if  
you've read 'An Unforgiving Past' by Bloodyban, keep in mind that events in Negaduck's  
early life deeply affected the person he became later on. (If you_ haven't_ read it, you might  
want to before you go any farther with this story.) It's not impossible for Negs to have  
chinks in his emotional 'armor', though---besides, if Darkwing can have negative traits  
(and he certainly does!), then couldn't his opposite have positive ones (however hidden)?

Anyway, if at times it looks like Neggy's getting OOC or you see something that looks too  
sentimental (or even 'cheesy', God forbid), be honest but tactful in your critique. Thanks!

Finally: I'll try to get on with Chapter V as soon as I can, by Halloween at the latest (but  
hopefully earlier than that!). Please try not to rush, though. I'm very flattered and will try  
not to leave you hanging; but good writing, like good art and good cooking, takes time.

And thanks again to my wonderful reviewers! Love ya, love ya, love ya!

_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved_  
_Concrete Angel..._

from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

_Chapter IV_

Gosalyn was on "Cloud 9" all through her school day; it was all she could do to concentrate on her studies,  
and her teacher was surprised to see a truly happy smile on the duckling's face for once. Even the weather  
seemed to agree with her mood, the sunshine managing to peek through the hazy skies of the Negaverse.  
Gosalyn hummed happily to herself all the way home, and at dinner she was so excited in anticipation of  
her gift she could hardly eat. She was uncertain whether to ask Negs if he had, in fact, gotten the statue  
for her; one pleading glance at him across the dinner table prompted a gruff reply of "Yeah, yeah---now  
eat your food and shut up, kid" and so her eyes went back to her plate---but the little girl was singing  
and dancing inside.

She had spoken to Tank a few times earlier; he had tried to be cheerful and reassuring, but he knew  
what Gosalyn was in for and wasn't sure how to break the crushing news to her. He had, however,  
looked up the Friendly Four and they had all made special plans.

And Gosalyn went to bed that night, sure in her heart that life was going to take a better turn for her...  
in her innocence, still believing that things could change. What she didn't realize was that she was in the  
eye of a hurricane---that fate in all its fickleness had given her a deceiving peace...before the storm  
which would cruelly slam her down.

The morning of her birthday, Gosalyn woke up earlier than usual. She had actually slept but little, her  
mind filled with dreams of her precious angel. She dressed quickly and looked around the house for  
her present; finding nothing so far, she refused to be discouraged---supposing that it had merely been  
hidden away for later.

Negaduck and Launchpad were still sleeping, and Gosalyn wasn't about to wake either of them up.  
So she nervously gulped down a piece of toast and a glass of milk, plugged in the coffeemaker for  
the men and ran off to school, where she spent the day in more excitement than ever.

Tank, meanwhile, had also spent a rather sleepless night. Thinking further of Gosalyn's situation, he  
realized it would be best to pass off a gentle hint to her about the statue LP had bought, and soften  
the blow for her for the time being. He hoped to find Gos sometime during the day and talk to her,  
at least on the way home. Unfortunately, it never worked out that way; Gosalyn, anxious to get  
home for once, had already left. To complicate things further, Tank ran into his mother as he was  
leaving and had to run an errand for her.

Meanwhile, Gosalyn raced home to find both her guardians had left the house, as usual; but there  
was a note on the end table near Negaduck's torn and soiled easy chair:

_  
Hey, Brat!  
Your stupid present's  
in your room!  
  
--Lord Negaduck_

_  
_That was it. No "Happy Birthday", "Love, Negaduck" or anything. But disappointing though that surely was,  
Gos had come to expect it. She was even less surprised (though just as disappointed) to find that her gift had  
been 'wrapped' in an old, stained paper bag and placed on her clean pink bed. No matter; it was what was  
_inside_ that Gosalyn had been hoping for. Her heart pounding wildly, she ripped the bag open and carefully  
pulled out the object, ecstatic at the thought of the sweet and beautiful angel's face that would surely greet  
her eyes...

But what came out of that bag was neither sweet _nor_ beautiful. And it was the farthest thing from any angel...  
any _heavenly_ angel, at least. For some moments, the child was too stunned to speak or even breathe. She  
could only stare through eyes that quickly filled with tears.

A gargoyle. Negaduck had given her a _gargoyle._

"Oh, no...no..." Gosalyn moaned, her chest heaving as she gaped in anguish at the dark and snarling face,  
the blazing red eyes, the monstrous bat-like wings. _Please_, she prayed, _let this be a bad dream. Oh, please,  
God, please!!_

But it was no dream. That ugly thing was _really_ there in front of her, glaring menacingly...just as Negaduck  
had so often. It seemed, in fact, to be a very monument to his evil and contempt. Just one more sign of how  
he apparently felt about Gosalyn...

Throwing the statue in her wastebasket, the poor child curled up on her bed and cried, hoping her guardian  
would stay gone this time---not knowing how she could bear to face him. She had often dreamed of running  
away, in fact; yet something had always made her stay. But now, running away sounded like a better idea  
than ever.

"Uh...Gos?"

It was Tank's voice. Gosalyn was startled anyway and looked up, sniffling, to find the Muddlefoot youth  
standing by the bed, looking rather sheepish.

"Looks like I got here too late," he sighed.

"Oh, Tank! Look, look what Dad gave me!" cried the little girl, pointing toward the wastebasket.

"Yeah. I saw Launchpad getting it the other day and I wanted to warn you, but I couldn't find you in time.  
I'm sorry, Gos...really sorry. But it's okay!" he assured her, taking her hand with a knowing smile.  
"Come on. The Friendly Four and I have a nice surprise for you."

Gosalyn shook her head. "Tank, I've had _enough_ surprises today."

"Don't worry, Gosalyn...just put on your nicest dress and meet me outside. I promise, you won't  
be sorry!"

Curious, Gosalyn blew her nose and washed her face, changed and followed her friend to what  
looked like an old, abandoned warehouse on the other side of town. Just before they entered,  
Tank put a blindfold around the duckling's eyes.

"What's going on, Tank?" Gosalyn asked. She was careful to paste a smile on her face, not wanting the  
Four to see how unhappy she still was over Negaduck's 'present'.

"You'll see," Tank replied with a grin as he opened the door and led her inside. "Now, don't peek."

"Here's the birthday girl!" Quackerjack heralded in delight, hugging Gos and Tank. "Happy Birthday,  
Gosalyn!!"

"Happy Birthday!!" called the other three heroes.

"Thanks, guys," Gosalyn answered. Despite herself, she was still glad to be with her friends again. "Can I  
take my blindfold off now?"

"What do you think---should we let her, guys? " Megavolt asked with a mischievous wink. "Has she been a  
good girl?"

"She's _always_ a good girl!" Bushroot insisted warmly. "Go right ahead, Gos honey."

When she did, the child gasped and blinked at the sight before her. The place had been decorated with crepe,  
confetti and birthday banners; bright balloons floated cheerfully here and there. On a round table sat a plate of  
sandwiches and a bowl of fruit punch. Beside them stood an angelfood cake, frosted with pink icing and aglow  
with candles. But that wasn't all...

...for in the center, her gentle eyes gazing out lovingly, stoodthe angel figure.

"Oh, my..." whispered Gosalyn. As if in a trance, she walked up slowly to touch the angel's  
face. This time, tears of joy shone in her eyes. "It's...it's so beautiful! It's _all_ so beautiful!!"

"Happy Birthday, Gos," Tank said warmly, smiling happily at her reaction.

"From those who care enough to give the very best," Liquidator said in the same tone.

"Tank told us about Launchpad getting that _other_ statue," explained Bushroot, shuddering.  
"We couldn't stand for you to be disappointed like that."

"So there were _two_ statues in the window?" Gosalyn asked in surprise.

"There were at the time. There was only the angel when you and I were there," Tank recalled.

"And trust Launchpad to pick out the _ugly_ one. That dumb brute," Megavolt added with a disgusted  
snort. Quackerjack nodded heartily.

Hearing all that, Gosalyn felt ashamed now for her earlier sorrow. But of course! She had thought there  
was _only_ the angel in the shoppe window when she asked Negs for the statue, so she hadn't bothered  
to be specific. And certainly LP wouldn't have picked out anything _pretty_. Was it possible, then, that  
her guardian had simply made a mistake? Not that she'd let him _know_ that; but the thought of it lifted  
her heart, and all seemed right with the world after all.

"Sorry again for the let-down you had, Gos," Tank said, hugging her.

"It doesn't matter now, Tank. Thank you! Thank you, all of you!!" Gosalyn laughed, hugging everyone  
and dancing merrily around the room. "This is the best birthday _ever!!" _

Seeing their little friend's relief and happiness, Tank and the Four felt like welling up themselves. But  
Quackerjack was quick to liven things up.

"Hey, this is a _celebration,_ people!" he declared jovially, grabbing a sandwich and turning on some music.  
"Let's party down, everybody---and somebody cut that cake!"

* * *

Gos was still delirious when the party broke up about two hours later. Her friends were careful to put her  
statue in a bag so she could hide it from Negaduck and Launchpad. She decided that to appease Negs she  
would put the gargoyle in plain sight somewhere in the house (she still didn't want it in her room), and bring  
the angel out when she was alone. As long as she had that sweet face to look at from time to time, she felt  
that nothing in the Negaverse could ever again trouble her.

But as she and Tank walked quickly toward home, chattering happily over the evening's events, neither of  
them saw that they were being watched. When they had gone some distance, Honker Muddlefoot stepped  
out from behind a building.

With a vicious grin, he ran off in another direction toward their neighborhood. Little did he know that other  
eyes had seen him in turn...

* * *

The lights at Gosalyn's house had been left burning when the children went off, hoping to make it look as  
if no one had left. All seemed quiet, which it never was when Negaduck and LP were home, so Gos and  
Tank felt the coast was clear when they crept in through the back door. 

"I'll put the angel in my closet," Gosalyn whispered to Tank as they reached the living room. "Then I'll get  
that gargoyle out of my trash and put it where Dad can see it."

"Ah...Gos?" the boy stammered, his face suddenly pale with fright.

The little girl turned, anxiously, to find Launchpad and the Muddlefoots gathered in the living room. They  
were glaring expectantly at the two young people; the Muddlefoots were smirking and chuckling, but LP  
just sneered.

"Looks like you two just got yourselves in some trouble!" Binkie said with a malevolent giggle.

"Yeah, where ya been, Pinky?" LP demanded, gulping down a beer and crushing the can.

"I...ah...I went out," Gosalyn stuttered, giving a frightened glance at Tank.

"We just came over ta cel'brate wit' yas, Short Stuff!" put in Herb. "So how come da birthday gal  
cut out on us?"

"Uh...I had things to do." Gosalyn gazed around nervously. "W-where's Da...I mean, Lord Negaduck?"  
She hoped if her guardian wasn't home, she could at least switch the statues before he got there. Not  
waiting for an answer, she started toward her room; but she froze in her tracks as her door opened and  
Negaduck came out. He was holding something under his cloak, and in his eyes was a look that would  
have scared all Hell.

The child, trembling, backed away at the baleful glare and started to run toward Tank for moral support.  
But her guardian stepped quickly between the two.

_"Happy Birthday," _Negs hissed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And just where have _you_ been tonight,  
my sweet child?"

Gosalyn swallowed hard. "I just wanted to go out for awhile...for my birthday, Lord Negaduck. I mean, you  
and Launchpad weren't home or anything..."

_"Uh-_huh. And how did you like your _present_, little one?" Negs continued in the same tone, as he circled  
his protegée like a shark around a tiny fish.

"It...it's something really...uh, different, Lord Negaduck," Gosalyn tried to assure him. "I...I appreciate  
you getting it for me..."

"Oh. So you _appreciate_ all I do for you, do you?" Negs asked with a sinister grin. _"How_ heartwarming!  
So would you mind explaining, little Miss Gosalyn, about _this??!"_

He opened his cape and the child's heart almost stopped---for in Negaduck's hand was the gargoyle statue.  
To make matters worse, one of its wings was broken after its rough landing in the wastebasket.

_"Well??"_ snarled Negs, all pretense over and his eyes fixed venomously on the little duckling.

Gosalyn could only stare in terror and dismay. She could give no explanation...at least, none that Negs would  
want to hear. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. "I'm sorry..."

"You're sorry. You took _my_ gift and threw it away. And you're _sorry??! _Well, I don't think you are. But you  
_will_ be, you little snot!!" He threw the gargoyle into his chair. "Now go to your room, and stay there till the  
end of next week! No school or anything. I might not even _feed_ you!"

"Why don't ya just _smack_ 'er?" suggested Launchpad, with a cruel grin.

"Yeah," added Herb. "I'm su'prised ya ain't done dat long ago, Lor' Neg'duck. Just turn 'er over yer knee  
and whack 'er till she can't siddown no more. Got a _whip _I could loan yas, even!"

Gosalyn, now in tears, skirted Negs and ran over to Tank. Negaduck, for all his meanness, had surprisingly  
never beaten her---there _was _a first time for everything, however. Yet her guardian, for whatever reason, made no such move or even a comment to Herb's suggestion; but now Honker Muddlefoot came running  
in to add fuel to the fire.

"Hey, Lord Negaduck---I got some news for ya," he announced triumphantly. "Guess where Carrot-Head  
went with my geek brother tonight? The Friendly Four gave her a _birthday party!"_

Gosalyn and Tank shot each other startled glances. Honker had been _spying_ on them!

Negaduck took in Honker's speech with a sour frown, then he turned to the children with a fresh  
maniacal gleam in his eyes.

"Well," he said, an ominous calm in his voice. "Isn't _that_ interesting?" He began to walk slowly toward  
them. "I seem to recall telling you to stay away from those losers...didn't I?" He bent over until Tank and  
Gosalyn's eyes met his. _"Didn't I??" _he repeated between clenched teeth.

They nodded. 'Yes," Gosalyn, trembling, said at last.

"Yes---_what?!" _

"Yes...Lord Negaduck," she answered miserably. Then her guardian's eyes fell on the sack she was holding.  
He seemed not to have noticed it until now.

"What do you have in there?" he demanded.

Before Gosalyn could come up with a reply, Honker was all too happy to jump in. _"I'll_ tell you, Lord Negaduck!  
They got her some dumb _angel_ statue! She didn't want that gargoyle you got her!"

"So..._my_ present wasn't good enough for you, missy?? You'd rather spend your birthday with those _freaks??  
That's_ the thanks I get for taking you into my home and putting up with you??! _Huh??!"_ snarled the mallard,  
his voice becoming harsher and more hurtful by the second. He stalked up to Gosalyn, who gazed up at him  
in terror as her guardian now seemed to tower over her in his fury.

"I'm sorry, Lord Negaduck!" pleaded the little girl as she hugged the bag tightly to her. "I'll do as you say!  
I'll go to my room now..."

She turned to go; but Negaduck grabbed the bag and wrenched it from her arms.

_"I'll_ teach you, young lady!!" he barked. "I'll teach you a little lesson about _respect!!"_ He yanked the angel  
statue from the bag and glared at in utter disgust. Then he raised it high above his head...

_"No!!" _begged Gosalyn, beginning to cry. "Please, Lord Negaduck, I'll do anything you want. Please,  
don't---_please!!!"_

But the words fell on a heart of stone. In an explosion of malevolent rage, Negaduck hurled the statue to  
the floor---and the little girl screamed as her beloved angel was brutally shattered into several pieces...

END CHAPTER IV 

  
End Chapter IV


	5. Chapter 5

**Concrete Angel_  
A Darkwing Duck Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes**

**All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author_**_  
  
My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible._

AUTHOR'S NOTE  
I promised I'd have Chapter 5 out by Halloween, which is quite appropriate because it _does_  
get a bit scary here. Obviously, the tension is building in the Negaverse household and about to  
come to a head. Will Gosalyn fall apart like her little angel statue? Will Negaduck go completely  
postal and beat the whey out of the poor kid? Will the author quit torturing the readers with these  
horrific questions?? Nope! Just grab some Kleenex and your teddy bear, and read bravely on.

Now that we're really getting to the meat of the story, I hope to get onto Chapter 6 soon.  
Meanwhile, enjoy; and thanks again for your kind reviews---you all are _uber_ awesome!!

AUTHOR'S NOTE II:

You'll notice I've slightly re-edited the end of this chapter, since I felt part of it was a bit rushed. Don't worry, the 'missing piece' will be in Chapter 6. Please be patient, though---no rushie!

* * *

_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved_  
_Concrete Angel..._

from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

_Chapter V_

For some seconds, Gosalyn felt as if her heart had stopped beating---that _she, _rather than the statue,  
had been so cruelly smashed and broken.

She had watched helplessly, her hands clasped to her beak in horror; but now she sank to the floor,  
trembling, and huddled over what remained of her birthday present. Negs stood glaring down at her,  
while Tank gazed at his little friend in pity. The other Muddlefoots and Launchpad only looked on  
smugly.

"Well, I hope she's learned her lesson!" Binkie declared.

Tank shot a look at her, suddenly feeling that he purely hated his family. He watched sadly as Gosalyn  
slowly picked up a fragment of the angel's face, clasping it to her chest and staring down at the other  
pieces, her eyes glazed as if in shock.

"Why?" she said brokenly, as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Why??"

"Now go to your room!" ordered Negs.

Gosalyn didn't move.

"Did you _hear_ me?" repeated the angry mallard. "Did _you_ turn into a statue all of a sudden?"

His last remark seemed to bring the duckling out of her trance, and she looked up at Negaduck  
with injured and bewildered eyes.

"Why did you do that?" she asked. _"Why,_ Daddy?"

Ignoring the 'Daddy' remark, Negs gave a scornful laugh. "Why do you _think_, kid? You've been  
living with me long enough to figure that out..."

Gosalyn nodded, a shaky sob escaping her throat. "Because," she whispered, "you _hate_ me..."

_"You_ speak up when you talk to me, missy---" snarled her guardian.

"Because you hate me! _Because you hate me!!"_ Gos cried out in a strangled voice as she jumped  
up to face Negs---heedless, in her despair, of any consequences. "You hate me! You always have!!  
_That's_ why you broke my angel. You broke her just because you knew it'd hurt me..."

"You got a lotta nerve, kid!" yelled Negaduck. "You didn't want _my_ present, but you're more than  
happy to take anything from those four _losers!!" _He snorted in disgust. "I'll bet if _they'd_ given you  
that gargoyle, you'd have taken it, wouldn't you?"

Gosalyn bowed her head. "Maybe I _would_ have."

_"What??"_

The little girl shut her eyes tight as she repeated. "Maybe I would have. Because they _love_ me.  
That's why I go to see them...they love me. And _you_ don't. You never did, Daddy..."

"I've told you over and over: _don't_ call me 'Daddy'!" Negs warned angrily.

"You see??" Gosalyn replied, fresh tears in her eyes. "You won't even let me call you 'Daddy'. I loved  
you, no matter how mean and evil you were! But you don't _want_ me to love you...you don't even want  
me to love anyone else."

"Listen, little Miss Smarty-Pants!" Herb broke in. "Dat's Lor' Neg'duck youse mouthin' off at. Youse  
just oughta watch yourself."

"That's right!" added Binkie. "You should respect him and show him some gratitude, young lady. He took  
you in and gave you a home, after all!"

_You call THIS a home??_ Gosalyn thought, but a more important question was on her mind.

"Why _did_ he take me in?" she inquired sadly. "Why did you, Lord Negaduck?"

"None of your business! Now get to your room, like I told you to!" snapped her guardian.

_"No!!"_ blurted Gosalyn.

Binkie and Herb gasped. Tank's jaw dropped, while his brother and Launchpad only stared.  
Negaduck looked startled---Gosalyn had _never_ talked back to him like that. But his surprise  
quickly turned to rage.

"What did you say?!" he demanded in a terrifyingly quiet voice. It was the tone he often used just  
before his anger was about to explode into violence---the literal calm before the storm.

Tank was far too familiar with the signs. "Gosalyn, please," he whispered to her. "Do as he tells  
you!"

"But it _is_ my business!" insisted the heartbroken duckling. "I want to know, I've got a _right_ to know!  
Why did you take me away from my mother and father? I wanted to be with _them..."_

Negaduck glowered at her incredulously. "Are you crazy?? They were stone _dead!_ Besides," he  
added with a sneer, "you weren't complaining when I took you away. You latched onto me, just  
like the little leech you are!"

"Then if you didn't want me, why didn't you leave me? Whoever killed Mom and Dad would have  
killed _me,_ too...and I'd be in Heaven with them!"

Negaduck blinked, for some reason unable to reply directly to that. When he finally did, as usual it  
was with an insult. "Heaven, huh? Maybe you'd have gone to _Hell_ instead!"

"I already _did!"_ shot back Gosalyn. "I _am_ in Hell, here with _you!!"_

Negaduck laughed sardonically. "Flattery will get you nowhere, little Miss Gosalyn," he said as he  
started to turn away.

Gosalyn shook her head despairingly. There seemed to be no reaching the heart or the conscience of  
her de facto parent.

"You _still_ won't tell me why you brought me home," she continued. "Why didn't you just leave me where  
you found me? Someone else would have seen me and taken me away. At least, you could have dumped  
me off at the orphanage downtown---"

She stopped as Negs stiffened---she could not have known that her last remark had touched a very sore  
spot in her guardian's psyche.

Suddenly the masked mallard whirled around to face her. His face had turned strangely pale, his expression  
like one who had been slapped. But the look in his eyes was the most puzzling of all: a curious, maniacal  
merge of hatred and fear, anger and sorrow.

_"Shut up!!!" _he screamed. "Don't even _mention_ that $#!# place to me again---never, _never_ again!!  
Do you understand? _Do_ _you??"_

The Muddlefoots stared at him uneasily; this was something unusual for them.

"Ya okay, Lor' Negs?" asked Herb. But Negaduck ignored him, his attention riveted on Gosalyn as  
he now advanced toward her. He actually seemed to be trembling, his emotions getting more intense  
with each sentence.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about that orphanage again in your life, you hear me?? _You hear me??! _" he  
continued to screech as he came closer to the frightened child, the same wild gleam in his eyes---  
he was all but foaming at the mouth at this point. "You mention it again, you little snot, and I'll...I'll...!"  
He raised his hand threateningly.

"Don't you _touch_ her!" Tank warned, rushing over and standing in front of the child. In spite of his own  
fear of Negaduck, Gosalyn's safety mattered more. "If you want to hurt somebody, then hurt _me! _She's  
just a little thing..."

"Get him out of here!!" Negaduck snarled at Binkie, who was quick to obey. The Muddlefoot youth  
glanced back anxiously at Gosalyn, who stood before Negaduck in both defiance and resignation---  
like a martyr about to be devoured by lions.

"Go ahead---get it over with!" she pleaded. "I hope you_ kill _me! Then you won't have to put up with  
me any more..."

She waited, sobbing, shutting her eyes and steeling herself for the blow that would surely come any  
moment. Negs stared at her furiously, his arm still raised...

Then, surprisingly, he put it down. He stood breathing hard, still glowering at her, not speaking for  
the moment.

"You listen to me, missy," he said at last. "Never mind _why_ I brought you here. You're here,  
whether you like it or not. This is _my_ world, and I'm running it the way _I _want---and _you'd_ just  
better learn to deal with it. Get me??!"

Gosalyn did not answer at first. She only gazed in anguish at the statue's sad remains on the floor,  
as Negaduck's hateful words sank like daggers into her heart.

'Learn to deal with it'...with _his_ world? Whether she liked it or not?

_No. _Not now. Not after what he'd just done.

"Well? Anything else to say, daughter of mine?" sneered her guardian.

The child slowly looked up at him, as anger she thought she could never feel began to rise  
within her soul. And with that anger came another feeling she'd never had before...

"I ha---" she began. Yet she could not bring herself to say 'hate'---even now. But she was able  
to say something else. With hot tears rolling down her face, Gosalyn declared:

"I don't _love_ you anymore."

Negaduck's eyes narrowed, the child's words seeming to hang in the air. Indeed, his little ward  
_was _full of surprises tonight.

"And am I supposed to _care?" _he said at last.

Gosalyn was positive he didn't---though for a moment she thought she had seen something in his  
eyes; something that wasn't there often. _Hurt._ That her words had hurt him.

_No, that can't be,_ she mused bitterly. _You can't feel hurt, Daddy. You don't care if I don't love  
you. I think you're even glad._

"I don't think you _do _care," she replied.

Negs stood glaring for some seconds; then he gave a dry, sardonic laugh. Finally he snarled:

"Go to bed!"

Still clutching the piece of the angel's face, Gosalyn silently walked to her room without a further  
glance at Negaduck. Once she was inside and the door shut, her pillow would once again be wet  
with tears...

Tank Muddlefoot was too worried about Gosalyn to concern himself with whatever awful punishment  
his own parents might have in store. That his hideous little brother was gloating over the incident didn't  
escape his notice, however.

_"Ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!" _Honker howled gleefully. "Gosalyn got her dumb statue broke! I hope Lord  
Negaduck's beatin' the _crap _outta her right now---"

In righteous anger at this last remark, Tank grabbed Honker and punched him dead in the face.

As the smaller Muddlefoot boy lay on the ground, dazed, Tank glared up defiantly at Herb and Binkie,  
his fists clenched, as they stared at him open-mouthed.

_Whatever they do to me will be worth this,_ he thought with satisfaction. But to his astonishment (not  
to mention Honker's), his parents seemed more proud than angry.

"Never thought ya had it in ya, son," Herb said as he mussed Tank's neatly-combed hair.

"That's right!" chirped Binkie. "And all this time we were afraid we'd raised a _wuss._ Looks like  
you're not shaming the family after all, Tank dear."

"I'll get you later, punk," Honker muttered angrily as he tried to stop his nose from bleeding.

"And I'll be waiting for you, creep," his brother retorted, feeling _he'd _at least come ahead anyway. But  
his concern was more for Gosalyn; he _had_ to help her now, and he knew just who to turn to...

"I oughta _give_ you something to cry about," Negaduck muttered as he glared at Gosalyn's closed  
door and trudged over to his chair.

"Why _don't_ ya?" Launchpad asked, surprised that Negs had come so close to actually hitting the  
child but for some reason had held himself back. He never did with anyone else, including LP.

The malicious pilot had often wondered himself why his boss never physically harmed Gosalyn; he  
had also strictly forbidden LP and the Muddlefoots to do so, though that wasn't so hard to understand  
---they felt Gos was Negaduck's 'property' and everyone knew better than to touch Lord Negaduck's  
possessions (they were sure it was even carved on a stone tablet somewhere).

"Why didn't ya hit 'er, Lor' Neg'duck?" repeated the pilot. "She had it comin'. She's yours, ain't she?  
Ya can smack her aroun' all ya want to---"

"Mind your own business, you stupid lunkhead!" snarled Negs, glaring daggers at him. _"You_ don't  
tell me how to take care of my kid!"

LP frowned uneasily. "Just wonderin', is all," he replied meekly.

Negaduck, strangely, was in no mood to argue. "Why don't you go _eat_ something, you big ape?"  
he suggested sourly. "And watch one of your stupid gangster movies. Just stay outta my way!"

Launchpad brightened. "Okay!" He happily lumbered into the kitchen and turned on the TV,  
then headed, as usual, for the refrigerator.

Negaduck slumped down into his chair, then jumped up instantly as something hard and sharp  
jabbed him in the rump.

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" _he screamed.

LP poked his head out of the kitchen but for a moment, then shrugged and resumed his business.  
Cursing under his breath, Negs turned to find the gargoyle statue in his seat---he had forgotten he'd  
thrown it there. Ironically, the figure's blazing red eyes and ugly grinning mouth seemed to be mocking  
Negs' discomfort.

"Oh, yeah??" snapped the masked mallard as he grabbed the statue and hurled it against the wall, snarling  
a steady stream of words that are best left unprinted.

Gosalyn had continued crying softly for some time---she didn't think she would ever stop, as the evening's  
terrible events played back over and over in her mind. It seemed quite obvious now that her life with Negs  
wasn't going to get any better, and so there seemed only one solution left.

She had to leave. _Now._ And never, ever come back. But how could she get away, and where could  
she go?

Suddenly, Gos heard a scratching at her window. She turned and gave a startled gasp as a large oak  
tree crept up to the window and opened it. But her fear quickly turned to relief as she remembered _  
who_ it was that could make trees move around and do other amazing things...

"Gosalyn?" a familiar voice called softly outside. The red-haired duckling ran quickly to the window,  
and was surprised---and just a little nervous---when the tree's branches lifted her out and drew her  
up. But Bushroot was standing at the top, dressed in the purple hat and cape that he and the Three  
wore in their guise as Darkwing's Ducks. Seeing Gosalyn's tear-stained face, the mutant plant-duck  
gazed at her anxiously, but held a leaf-like finger to his beak just as Gos was about to greet him.  
Realizing the danger, Gosalyn kept quiet but couldn't hold back the tears as Bushroot took her into  
his arms.

"Don't cry, baby..._I'm _here," he whispered gently, stroking her hair. "They didn't hurt you or  
anything, did they?"

The child shook her head. "But Negs broke my angel," she whispered back, sniffling as she  
clung to him.

"I was afraid of that," the plant-duck answered sadly. "But it'll be all right, honey. Let's gather  
up what you can carry, and go meet the others. It's time for you to leave this place."

Gosalyn could no longer argue with that. Going back into her room, she locked her door and  
quickly bundled up a few of her things, then slipped away with Bushroot.

Wrapping her protectively in his cape, he carried her to where the Three waited at an old  
building on the outskirts of town---feeling that the place they'd held Gosalyn's party was no  
longer safe. Tank was with them also, having managed to run away himself. They were all  
relieved to see Gosalyn alive, but equally concerned that she might have been harmed.

"Are you okay, Gos?" Tank asked. "I was so afraid Negaduck would beat you."

"He didn't, Tank," Gosalyn answered softly. "I don't know why, but he didn't."

"Tank told us what happened to your statue," Quackerjack said unhappily, as he and his  
friends took turns comforting her. "We're so sorry, Gos!"

"We'll get you another one sometime," promised Megavolt.

"It's okay, everyone," said Gosalyn. She didn't want anything else that Negs could possibly destroy.

"Then come with us, Gosalyn dear," Liquidator offered. "The Friendly Four recommends their  
hideout as child-safe!"

"We'll never let Negaduck hurt you again," Bushroot swore. Gosalyn only nodded silently, her head  
against Bushroot's shoulder as they all climbed into the Four's van and started off for the forest.

But an idea that had long been in the little girl's thoughts, that she had only _dreamt_ of before, was about to come to light...

END CHAPTER V

* * *

Drooling for Chapter 6 already?? Hang in there, it's coming soon! Meanwhile, I've got oodles of other  
goodies to work on (plus I'll be job-hunting for the holidays and HOPEFULLY catching up on my studies).  
I'm also hoping to have something nice and freaky just in time for Halloween. Bubbeye!


	6. Chapter 6

**Concrete Angel**_  
**A **_**_Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes**

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author _

My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"-both of which helped make this story possible.

Well, here's Chapter 6 at last, and hope you all enjoy it. My thanks to those who kindly reviewed the  
other chapters and patiently awaited this one. I'm asking you to _please_ go on being patient, since I'm  
desperately trying to catch up with schoolwork, job-hunts and various fandom projects and what-not.  
Btw, if you're tired of that song quote, I can leave it off future chapters (I've made my point anyhoo).

_Through the wind and the rain  
__She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved_  
_Concrete Angel..._

from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

* * *

_Chapter VI_

Shortly after arriving at their cabin with the children, the Friendly Four put Gosalyn to bed. Bushroot  
lightly checked her over for bruises or broken bones, although Gos insisted she had not been harmed  
in any way. She gave a short explanation about Negaduck's frightening tirade, but was still shaken by  
the whole incident and spoke little otherwise. Megavolt brought her some warm milk, and stayed with  
Bushroot by the little girl's side until she fell asleep.

"Is she okay?" Quackerjack asked his friends after they came out of the room.

"She seems all right," Bushroot replied. "She's resting now."

"Are you sure, guys?" was Tank's anxious question. "No marks or anything?"

Bushroot sat down with a heavy sigh. "Well, _physically_ she's fine. But what Negaduck put her through  
tonight is just as bad as any beating. It'll be a hard thing for Gos to get over." _If she ever gets over it,_  
he thought sadly.

"Poor little thing!" Quackerjack exclaimed, tears in his eyes. "We'll make it up to her, somehow!"

"We should've taken her out of that home a long time ago," Megavolt added glumly. "But she _wanted_  
to stay with Negaduck. I just don't get it."

"Well, Gosalyn loved him," Bushroot explained. "That's just the sweet little girl she is. _Negaduck's_  
the one who doesn't get it!"

"Nine out of ten doctors recommend that our little friend _never_ return home," Liquidator pointed out.

"But what about you, Tank? I don't think _you_ should go home either," Quackerjack said firmly.

"If it were just my parents-and even Honker-I might take a chance," Tank replied. "But not  
as long as Negaduck's next door. Besides, I think I'm old enough now to move on with my life."

"Then you and Gosalyn must stay with us," Megavolt insisted. "We'll train you like Darkwing trained  
us...and I swear one day, we'll_ all_ liberate St. Canard!"

* * *

At first it seemed that even in her sleep, Gosalyn could not escape Negaduck's cruelty. 

She dreamt that she was dancing through a field of beautiful flowers, wearing a soft pink gown,  
while butterflies and singing birds fluttered about her and little rabbits scampered everywhere.  
Fluffy clouds,white as marshmallows, dotted a clean blue sky, and all was touched by gentle  
rays of sunshine.

Then in a distant clearing, she saw it-_the angel statue_, new and unbroken as she had first  
known it. Laughing joyfully, the little girl ran over and swept it up in her arms, hugging it close  
to her as she danced merrily through the flowers...

But suddenly, the sun vanished and the sky darkened as black thunderclouds filled the heavens.  
A cold wind blew over the field, killing the flowers and driving away the pretty creatures; as Gos  
watched all this anxiously, a dark cloaked figure appeared at the end of the field.

The child gaped in dread, thinking at first the shadowy being was the horrid gargoyle that had  
made her so miserable.

"Go away," she pleaded.

But laughter at once familiar and evil answered her, and a sudden burst of lightning revealed  
the figure to be _Negaduck._ He seemed larger and more terrifying than Gos ever remembered  
seeing him, and she trembled as he stalked toward her, glaring menacingly.

"Oh, you want to play with angels, do you?" he mocked with an ugly sneer. 'Well, forget it, kid:  
because the _devil's _taking over your world now!"

The little girl tried to run away, but as often in nightmares, she found herself unable to move.  
She tried to scream, but could not, as the hateful mallard caught her, wrenching the statue  
from her arms and smashing it on a nearby rock. The moment he did so, the lightning ripped  
fiercely through the skies, which had now become darker. Icy winds and rain whipped the child  
as she collapsed to the ground sobbing, while Negaduck laughed cruelly at her misery.

But just then, a strange thing happened...

Out of the statue's remains, like a phoenix from its ashes, there rose a spirit form with a white  
robe and shining wings. Gosalyn's angel had become_ real._

It stood tall and bright, bearing a golden shield and a fiery sword. At the sight of this glorious  
being, Negaduck shrank back in fear.

"Oh, my angel! Help me-_save_ me!" Gosalyn cried.

At her plea, the angel drew his sword and gave the demonic figure a withering look.

"Go away! Leave the child alone!" he commanded. "You have no power over her anymore!"

At the angel's words, the evil duck vanished with a scream of rage. Instantly, the sky became  
bright again, and the flowers and gentle animals appeared once more. The angel turned to  
Gosalyn with a loving and comforting gaze, and as the child looked on with wonder and rapture,  
the angel changed shape...

...and in his place stood her beloved hero, _Darkwing Duck._

He smiled kindly and opened his arms to Gosalyn. She ran quickly to him, too happy for words,  
and hugged him as if she would never let go.

"Everything's all right now," Darkwing assured her as he hugged her back. "No one will ever hurt  
you again.

"You're _my_ little girl now, Gosalyn...Gosalyn.._.Gosalyn..._"

"Gosalyn? Gosalyn?"

Gos awoke, startled, to the sound of Quackerjack's voice. He had been sitting on her bed, gently  
shaking her and calling to her.

"Are you okay, honey?" QJ asked. "You must have been having a nightmare-we could hear you  
crying in the next room."

The little girl rubbed her eyes. She could still feel Darkwing's arms around her and wished her  
friend hadn't awakened her.

"I'm okay," she mumbled. "It _was_ a bad dream for awhile, Quackerjack, but it didn't stay that way.  
It was so beautiful at the end!" She glanced at the clock but was still too sleepy to see it. "What  
time is it?"

"It's 8 a.m., sweetie. You must have been _really_ tired. Feel like some breakfast?"

"I don't know...but I'll go ahead and get up anyway."

She went to the washroom and freshened up, then put on a clean dress and joined her five  
friends at the breakfast table. Her mind was too centered on the strange dream for her to  
think about food at the moment, so Gosalyn settled on toast and juice and ate quietly while  
the others talked.

But all the while she was deep in thought; for her dream had only made her more aware of  
yet _another _dream she had long held, that since her leaving home ached more than ever to  
come true. Yet could she find the courage to follow through with it-realizing that it would mean  
leaving the five people she loved so much?

And yet, she couldn't shake off the memory of Darkwing. Truly, he _had_ been her angel. He had  
saved her, Tank and The Friendly Four, and given them new confidence in themselves. But  
most of all, he had given her his love-something she had longed in vain for his Negaverse twin  
to offer her. Perhaps _that _was what had made her stay with Negaduck for so long: the idea that  
Darkwing was everything Negaduck could have been, and hopefully _could _be one day...

But Gosalyn felt she must now abandon that hope; for her guardian seemed to have proved  
beyond the shadow of a doubt that he did not and never would love her. And so, she must now  
seek out his opposite...who lived in a world opposite in every way from the one she had known  
for too long.

_She had to see Darkwing Duck again;_ to see his kind face and hear his gentle voice...to feel his  
fatherly hug one more time. Even if she could never see him again after that.

Meanwhile, her friends couldn't help noticing how thoughtful and quiet Gosalyn was, but they  
supposed she might still be thinking of last night and felt it best not to press her with questions.  
Instead, they talked cheerfully among themselves, hoping to at least distract her attention. As  
it was, the Four had plans to make for the future, seeing that Tank and Gosalyn were now to  
be part of their little family.

"Hope you kids don't mind some time off school-until we get things squared away, that is,"  
Megavolt told Tank.

"No problem there," Tank replied with a laugh. "But I'll bet they'll be surprised when we don't  
show up. I actually liked going to school; it was _coming home_ I dreaded. But maybe we'll  
have to change schools," he added uncertainly. If Negs wanted to find them, it wouldn't matter _  
what_ part of town they went to.

"Well, if nothing else," Bushroot declared, "we can teach you right here at home. I can teach  
science and botany, anyway!"

Liquidator nodded. "A mind _is_ a terrible thing to waste!"

"We could also find a seperate hideout in town somewhere, so you two won't be cooped  
up here in the woods all the time," Megavolt suggested.

"What's wrong with living in the forest?" Bushroot wanted to know.

"Bushroot, they're growing children, not growing _plants!" _Quackerjack answered, grinning.

"We could always put on different clothes-'disguise' ourselves, sort of," Tank mused. "Say,  
Gos, maybe you could brush your hair out and put it in a ponytail? And wear something dark?  
I don't mean like the stuff Mom always wears. Just anything no one expects _you_ to wear."

Gosalyn nodded slowly, her thoughts all her own. Tank gave her a curious glance; he had a  
feeling she hadn't really been following the whole conversation, but decided to ask her  
about it later.

"Tell you what, kiddies!" Quackerjack said excitedly, "we'll sneak into town and get a few  
supplies. Gos, we'll make sure we find something nice for you to wear-and maybe," he  
added hopefully, "there'll be some _toys_ left in the stores!"

Seeing her friends' enthusiasm made Gosalyn feel guilty for what she was about to suggest.  
But she had made her decision, and felt she would long regret it if she didn't stand by it.

"Wait," she said softly.

They all turned to her, both surprised and concerned at the strange look on her face. She  
was gazing at them sadly, but with a certain determination.

"What is it, Gosalyn?" Megavolt asked gently.

"I...I love you all. I really do...and I'm glad you want me with you. But..." She lowered her  
eyes; it would not be easy to say what she wanted.

_"Please_ don't say you want to go home, sweetie," begged Quackerjack. "Not after what  
happened last night-Negaduck almost _hurt_ you!"

"Parental advisory: do _not_ return home, Gosalyn!" Likky admonished.

"I _do _want to go home," Gosalyn explained, "but not _there.'"  
_  
They all blinked in confusion. Where _else_ was 'home'?

Drawing a shaky breath, but with resolve in her face, the little duckling continued:

"Please tell me: how can I get to _the Normalverse_ ?"

* * *

It was about 10 a.m. when a groggy but (as always) hungry Launchpad trudged out of  
his room and on his usual path to the refrigerator. 

Ignorant of anything else around him, he rummaged around noisily until he had an armload  
of food and slammed the door shut with his foot. Then he dumped his load on the table and  
turned the TV on full blast.

_"Gyaaaaah!_ What the...!" yelped a gruff voice from the livingroom.

LP looked up, his mouth full. "Hey boss, that you in there?"

"Who do you _think, _dumb-bell? The Tooth Fairy?" was the cranky reply. "Turn that  
TV down, will ya? You're makin' enough noise to wake the dead!"

LP rolled his eyes and obeyed, without putting down the huge sandwich he was eating. He  
peeked warily into the livingroom to find a tired and angry Negaduck glaring from his easy  
chair.

"You been sittin' there all night, Lor' Negs?" the pilot asked, blinking stupidly. "Yer eyeballs  
look as red as yer hat, man!" He chuckled. "Ya look just like Herb on Saturday mornin' !"

Negaduck sneered. "Just shuddup and put the coffee on."

It was just now that LP noticed there _was_ no coffee. "Ya mean Pinky didn't do it? Where_ is_  
she, anyway? Musta gone ta her stupid school, huh? No, waitaminnit-ya _grounded_ her,  
didn't ya?" He gave a brutish laugh. "Yeah...serves 'er right, the lil' snot."

His boss half-rose from the chair, his bloodshot eyes glaring daggers.

"I...don't...hear...any _coffee _perking, you jerkwad!" he growled between clenched teeth.

LP got the hint. He not only made the coffee but turned off the TV and finished eating in his  
room. Moreover, he stayed out of Negaduck's way for a good while.

Negaduck slumped down in the chair his pilot had vacated and sullenly drank his coffee. It  
_did_ seem a bit strange that Gosalyn hadn't made it, so annoyingly obedient and eager to  
please as she always was-but after last night, _nothing_ she did or didn't do would surprise  
him.

_The brat probably ran off to school, _he mused sourly. _Or maybe bawled herself to sleep  
and didn't get up yet. Ah, who cares? I don't even wanna__** look **__at her...not after the night  
I've had._

He _had_, in fact, been in the living room much of the night. Like Gosalyn, his own sleep had  
been troubled by nightmares. But for Negaduck, there had been _no_ happy ending nor any note  
of hope. There had only been the same horrors that had tormented him for years; images from  
long ago, of dreadful pain and mindless abuse-and the memory of a terrified, battered little  
boy, helpless to stop a madman's violence that was killing the child and his mother...

He had bolted awake in a cold sweat, wondering if anyone had heard the scream that always  
tore from his throat at the end. Shaking, he had tottered from his bed to the refuge of his  
chair, where he spent the rest of the night trying to shut out the ugly memories that he  
never shared with anyone...nor could have, even if he had cared to.

But Negaduck did not yet realize that he wasn't the only one seeking escape from a troubled  
past-nor that he could so easily become the monster of his own nightmares...

* * *

The Friendly Four stood open-mouthed at Gosalyn's odd request. Though it should have been  
expected sooner or later, it stunned them nevertheless. 

Megavolt blinked. "The Normalverse? Gos, do you really want to go _there?"_

She nodded.

"But...but why, honey?" stammered Bushroot. "We'll make sure you're safe. You  
don't have to go there."

"Stay with us, baby...you know we all love you," Quackerjack insisted.

The little girl sighed heavily; this wasn't getting any easier. She glanced pleadingly at Tank,  
who had listened solemnly the whole while and alone seemed the least surprised.

"I understand, Gos," he said in a low voice. "You want to see _him_ again, don't you?"

"Darkwing Duck, you mean?" Liquidator asked quietly.

"Yes..." Gosalyn's voice was barely audible. "I'm sorry," she whispered, as she hugged  
the liquified canine. But Likky smiled as he put his watery arms around the child.

"Don't be," he said gently. "Who can blame you for wanting to leave the Negaverse?  
Some material is definitely _not_ suitable for pre-teenagers..."

At his words, the other three heroes exchanged glances. They all missed Darkwing Duck  
themselves, and had spoken often about the Normalverse. Since Negaduck's return, they  
had noticed Gosalyn becoming increasingly curious about Darkwing's world. That she  
would actually want to _go_ there should not have come as such a shock-certainly not  
after Negs' most recent act of cruelty.

"She's right, guys," Megavolt said at last. "After what she's been through, I think it'd help  
her to see Darkwing again."

_"And_ get away from Negaduck!" Quackerjack added. "But guys, are you sure about this?  
She's never been over there before!"

"But it's _got_ to be better than the Negaverse," Gosalyn said eagerly. "Tank told me that  
_everything _there is the opposite of this place!

"I don't want to leave you," she added, seeing the sadness in her friends' faces. "But I've  
_got_ to see Darkwing Duck, just once. I can't stand to be in the Negaverse one more day,  
even in this lovely forest with all of you!"

"It's all right, Gosalyn. We _do_ understand," Bushroot assured her with a brave smile. "And  
we'll take you to the portal."

The original crossing between dimensions, the one that had been in the local bakery,  
was thought to have disappeared-along with Negaduck-after Darkwing pulled the  
Universal Plug. But by some quirk of science, space or some other means, other 'doors'  
had recently been opened. This was how Negaduck had managed to come back to  
St. Canard. But there had been one portal unknown to him that had been discovered  
by the Four; it lay in an abandoned city park that they had cleaned up and tried to  
maintain-that is, until Negs and his gang took over again.

The Friendly Four had shared their secret with Tank, intending to tell Gos when she  
was a little older. But seeing how desperate her situation had become, they decided  
not to wait any longer.

Still, they weren't so sure that leaving the Negaverse was the wisest move for the child,  
who had never known any other world; so when they brought her to the park they tried  
to prepare her.

"Remember, Gosalyn," Tank advised, "everything there _is_ the opposite of here. That  
includes even the _positive_ things about this place. Find Darkwing as soon as you can  
and he'll help you get around better."

Gosalyn nodded, thinking only of Darkwing and unable to believe there could be _anything_  
dangerous or negative in _his_ universe. She was sure that once she was at his side, nothing  
bad could ever happen to her again.

"There it is," said Bushroot, pointing to tiny rays of light streaming through a thick growth of  
bushes. They parted at his command to reveal a passage, a doorway of sorts, that swirled  
with mult-coloured light.

"This," Megavolt declared, "will lead you to the Normalverse."

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" exclaimed Gosalyn, more anxious now than ever to cross over. But  
her wish to say goodbye to her friends kept her from running through right then and there.

"Well, Gosalyn," asked Liquidator, "are you ready to boldly go where man has never gone  
before?"

Gosalyn smiled; she was surely going to miss Likky's quips. Just as she was going to  
miss _all_ of the Friendly Four, and Tank-who had been so much like a big brother.

She looked around at the faces of her friends-all so very dear to her. She loved them all  
deeply and would be forever grateful for their kindness and vigilance. Perhaps, she thought,  
she had been foolish to want an angel statue; for _each_ of them in turn had been a guardian  
angel for the child and helped her through some very difficult times. She was happy to  
be leaving, but sad to be leaving _them._

She hugged and kissed them all, hating to let go yet anxious to leave.

"I'll miss you," she said tearfully, "but one day I'll come back and see you again. I promise!"

"Please do, love!" Quackerjack answered, in tears himself.

Bushroot and Tank walked her to the portal. "Be careful over there, Gosalyn," the Muddlefoot  
youth cautioned. "If you need to come back, remember this place."

"Okay."

They gave her one last hug. "Remember, honey," Bushroot said, "we all love you. And you'll  
_always_ have a home with us."

"I love you too," Gosalyn whispered, kissing the plant-duck's cheek. "Thank you all for being  
so kind. I'll never forget you..."

With one last look at her friends, Gosalyn stepped to the portal and vanished within its glowing  
vortex.

END CHAPTER VI

* * *

This may have been a rush job, but you poor people waited for it long enough. I hope to get Chapter 7 done by the end of the month,  
but I've got oodles of other writing projects and assorted other 'junk' so, I beg of you: NO rushie. Thanks! 


	7. Chapter 7

Concrete Angel_  
A __Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. _La Author _

My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.

**Author's Note:**

Starting this chapter (and for the next couple of chapters), I'm switching to a different song from "Concrete Angel",  
which I thought might be getting old; but I also heard two other songs that fit this story just as well. _A Broken Wing_,  
also sung by Martina McBride, seemed to symbolize Nega-Gosalyn's escape to the Normalverse and the way her  
life changes for awhile. _No Way Out_ , sung by Phil Collins, sounded just as appropriate and will be used for the final  
chapter._** Again,**_ I want to apologize for being so late with all my stories and stuff. From here on out, my life is now  
much busier than ever. I'm finishing my studies, and have just started a six-month stint in clerical training. Needless  
to say, that's cutting into my 'fandom' time, but in the end it'll be worth it. So hang on, my faithful readers!

**Note on copyrights (PLEASE READ!):**

Although the Darkwing Duck characters belong to Disney and certain elements of this story are inspired by "An  
Unforgiving Past" (copyrighted by Rachel F. and referenced _with her permission_), this story is **my personal  
copyright.** If you need to quote from it or use it as a reference or whatever, **you must please, **_**please, **_**PLEASE  
get my written permission AND credit the author! **This is a very small courtesy that isn't much to ask and  
won't hurt anybody one little bit. Please take this to heart, everybody--good fanfic authors respect the copyright  
of others.

_And with a broken wing  
She still sings  
She keeps an eye on the sky  
With a broken wing  
She carries her dreams  
Man, you oughta see her fly..._

from "Broken Wing" by Martina McBride

* * *

_Chapter VII_

It was like no journey Gosalyn ever had before...and one she knew she would never forget.

She flew through the whirling, mystic tunnel from the Negaverse to the next world, surrounded by sights  
and sounds both terrible and wonderful. Both fascinated and frightened by it all, the little girl prayed that  
she wouldn't get lost along the way. Finally, after what seemed like forever--though it had only been a few  
minutes--Gosalyn saw a passage that looked much like the one she had entered; but this shone with an  
even brighter light than the other. Aiming straight for that light, her heart pounded wildly as she realized  
she was coming closer to the Normalverse...closer to Darkwing Duck.

As she burst through the light and out of the portal, Nega-Gosalyn landed in a park similar to the place  
she had left behind; but it was much greener, with plenty of nice soft grass...a good thing, for the little  
duckling's landing was a rather rough one.

"Owwww!" cried Nega-Gosalyn as she hit the ground. She lay dazed for some seconds, then sat up and  
rubbed her knees, which had been scuffed in her fall. She gazed around her in astonishment.

The park was indeed much prettier than the one in her own universe. The trees and plants were strong  
and healthy, with flowers--real _flowers_--blooming everywhere. The fountain that had been broken and  
dirty in Nega-Gosalyn's world stood proudly in the center, flowing clean, fresh water as fragrant lilies  
floated on its surface.

"Am I really _here?" _she whispered.

Her dream had come true at last...she had finally escaped the cruel and ugly world she had lived in,  
for what she was sure would be a far better one.

"Oh, if only Bushroot and the others could see this place!" she cried joyfully.

"Are you okay, honey?" called a woman's voice a short distance away.

Nega-Gosalyn looked up to see a young couple running toward her. They were jogging through the  
park and had seen the little girl fall, not knowing from where.

"Are you okay?" the woman repeated as she and her husband crouched down by the child.

"Oh...yes, ma'am!" Nega-Gosalyn answered bashfully. "I just skinned my knees a little bit."

"We can sure see _that," _the man remarked with sympathy. "Good thing we brought a little first-aid  
kit. Were you trying to climb one of these big trees or something?"

Nega-Gos bit her bottom beak. "No," she answered hesitantly, thinking they might not believe her  
if she told them exactly _where_ she'd fallen from. She winced a bit as the lady jogger wiped her cut  
knees with an antiseptic pad.

"There, sweetie, it won't sting for long," the kind woman said as she bandaged the wounds. "You  
should have been wearing jeans or overalls to play in--not that pretty pink dress. Feel better now?"

"Yes, I do. Thank you!" the duckling said, hugging them both.

"Well, aren't you a sweet little thing!" exclaimed the lady jogger, laughing. "I hope we have a little  
girl just like you someday. Where's _your_ mommy and daddy, honey?"

"I...I don't have a mommy and daddy," Nega-Gos replied solemnly, her eyes to the ground.

"You mean you're out here _by yourself?"_ asked the male jogger in concern. "Where do you live?"

The child thought a few moments. "On Avian Way," she finally answered.

"But that's a good ways from here! How did you get so far from your home?"

Nega-Gosalyn blinked. "I...I got lost," she said in a low voice. It wasn't _exactly_ a fib.

The couple exchanged glances, then the woman waved the man aside. "Do you think she's  
run away from home or something?" she asked him. "Or maybe from an orphanage?"

"I don't know. I wonder if we should call the police...?"

Hearing the word "police", Nega-Gosalyn jumped up in a panic. "I'll find my way home, don't worry!"  
she told them hastily. "Goodbye...and thanks for being so nice!"

She dashed quickly away as the worried couple ran after her.

"Come back, little girl, come back!" cried the lady jogger. "Don't be afraid!"

"We only want to help you!" called her husband.

But Nega-Gosalyn, anxious to find her 'home', was taking no chances. Despite her sore knees, she ran  
as fast as she could, dashing around corners and through various buildings until she was sure the joggers  
had lost sight of her. She hated to leave the friendly couple like that, but she couldn't have answered any  
more of their questions. If she ended up in a police station or some other place, she might _never_ have the  
chance to find Darkwing.

After several minutes of running, Nega-Gosalyn finally got tired and sat down on a bus bench--glad the  
Friendly Four had given her some money before she left. Maybe she could ride a bus to Avian Way, if  
she could remember which way it was. She was getting rather hungry, too...

The smell of hamburgers grilling quickly caught her attention. Just up the street stood a Hamburger Hippo,  
and Nega-Gosalyn made a bee-line for it. She bought a cheeseburger and a grape slush, surprising the  
counter clerk by her dainty manners and the amount of napkins she used.

"Guess ya don't wanna stain that pretty dress," he suggested with a kind smile.

Nega-Gosalyn, her mouth full, smiled and nodded. When she had finished, she asked the man how close  
she might be to Avian Way.

"Just the next street off," he told her. "Few blocks down, then turn left..."

About this time, a certain purple-caped duck was making the rounds on his Ratcatcher cycle.

"What's with this town all of a sudden?" he grumbled to himself. "Hardly any crime at all out there...just  
stupid petty thefts! Might as well go back home, I guess..."

He drove past the Hamburger Hippo and barely gave it a passing glance; but just as he turned down a side  
street, Darkwing slammed on his brakes. Blinking in confusion, he glanced back at the cross street...

For a moment, he thought he had seen a familiar little figure sitting at the counter of the Hamburger Hippo.

_It couldn't be, _he mused. He fired up the Ratcatcher again and sped back toward the hamburger stand; but  
now, no one was there except the counter clerk.

_Must be seeing things,_ Darkwing told himself. _I didn't get much sleep this morning...must be hallucinating.  
Yeah, that's it._

Shaking his head, he drove away, still not sure that he _hadn't_ seen a red-haired duckling in a frilly pink dress  
at the lunch counter. Gosalyn, _his_ Gosalyn, was supposed to be at school and wouldn't have been caught  
dead in a dress of _any_ kind. As for her more ladylike twin, she was still off in the Negaverse with the Friendly  
Four looking after her..._wasn't_ she?

Meanwhile, Nega-Gosalyn had set off to find Avian Way--not knowing she had missed her beloved hero by  
only a few seconds...

* * *

Back in his own universe, Negaduck had been sullenly riding his Troublemaker through town. He was headed  
for no place in particular; trying to shut out his nightmare, while still brooding over last night's craziness, Negs  
had just wanted to get away from his house (and everyone in it) for awhile. However, he wasn't too preoccupied  
to terrorize an old lady in a crosswalk, by zipping past her just close enough to snatch her purse.

When he finally returned home, Binkie Muddlefoot met him in the front yard with a puzzled face.

_"What?"_ Negaduck snapped.

"Lord Negaduck, have you seen Tank?" asked Binkie. "He's disappeared!"

"Good. About _time!"_ Negaduck said with a vicious laugh. If Binkie was offended by the evil mallard's attitude, she  
of course didn't dare show it.

"I just thought Tank might be at your house," she said weakly, "or maybe visiting Gosalyn. But Launchpad hasn't  
seen him either."

"The little creep's in school, don't you think?" Negs suggested, surprised that Binkie even cared. "Maybe he  
decided to _live_ there."

"That's just it---he never _went _to school! I got a call from his teacher today, asking why he was absent. His bed  
hasn't even been _slept_ in! Perhaps you could ask Gosalyn about it when she comes home..." She blinked, then  
laughed heartily as she remembered the previous night's tirade. "Oh my, I forgot--you grounded her, didn't you?  
I guess she _wouldn't_ know where Tank is, would she?"

It was Negs' turn to blink as he listened to the Muddlefoot housewife. "I don't know..." he said slowly, frowning  
with sudden suspicion. "Maybe I'll just _ask_ her."

He parked the Troublemaker and trudged into his house, where he caught Launchpad returning from yet another  
fruitful afternoon of frightening innocent children.

"Did Gosalyn's stupid school call?" he barked at the pilot.

"Dah...yeah!" LP replied after some thought. "Asked why Pinky wasn't at school. I said, 'Who cares?' an' hung  
up. Why?"

"Because I just talked to that Muddlefoot broad. She was looking for Tankerbell. _He _didn't go to school either!"

LP shrugged. "Maybe they're playin' hooky. Nuttin' wrong wit' that, is there?"

"I think the little jerk ran off."

"You sound like you'll _miss_ 'im," was Launchpad's puzzled comment; but Negaduck's murderous glare shut  
him up.

"You're an _idiot_ wrapped in a _moron_, you know that?" snarled the villain. "That four-eyed geek's Gosalyn's  
friend, don't you get it? Maybe _she_ knows something about this!"

"I ain't heard a peep from 'er since last night," LP muttered.

Negs stared hard at him, then went quickly up to Gosalyn's room and kicked open the door. LP was on his  
way to the refrigerator when he heard a roar, followed by a steady stream of curses.

"Ya stub yer toe on somethin', Lor' Negs?" he called. He stiffened as Negaduck rushed out of Gosalyn's  
room, angrily waving a piece of paper.

"The little &$# !" Negs screeched. "I knew it! _She's run away from home!"_

LP looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights. "Huh?"

"She's gone, stupid! She left a note! See?"

Launchpad had to jerk his head back to read the note, for Negaduck had fairly shoved it in his face.

_Daddy:  
I've gone away to find a better home. You never wanted  
me and you never loved me, so now you and Launchpad  
don't have to live with me anymore. I'm sure you both  
will be happy without me. I know __**I'll **__be happier now.  
Gosalyn_

_P.S. I know you don't want me to call you 'Daddy', but  
this will be the last time, so it doesn't matter now._

Launchpad stared unbelievingly at first, then he laughed. "Huh...so Pinky finally took off. Well...one _less_  
mouth ta feed around here. She won't be buggin' us anymore, will she, Lor' Negs?"

Negaduck did not answer; he only glared out into space, clenching and unclenching his fists as he brooded  
darkly over the situation.

"Uh...Lor' Negs?"

_"Shut it!"_

Then like a bolt of lightning, a sudden thought struck Negs' mind--and the revelation made him gnash his teeth  
with both surprise and rage. Familiar with the signs, LP stepped back warily.

"So _that's_ it!" Negaduck snarled bitterly. "Did that rotten little snot think I _wouldn't_ find out? Like I don't know  
_who_ she wanted to be with ever since I came back? No _wonder _she's been acting up!"

As usual, Launchpad didn't get it; but his boss saved him the trouble of asking.

_"Gosalyn's left the Negaverse!"_ roared Negs, as he crumpled the farewell note. "I don't know where or _how_  
she found the portal, but she's left! And you know _why,_ moron? She's trying to get to _Darkwing Duck! _Well,  
we'll see about that..."

"But...but that shouldn't bother ya, should it, Lor' Negs? You never wanted the brat anyway, did ya? Hell, _I_  
don't even know why ya brought 'er here..."

He jumped back and headed out the door just as Negaduck's hand went to his chainsaw.

_"I'll find you!"_ Negs screeched, as though Nega-Gosalyn were still standing before him. "I'll find you if I have to  
trash all of St. Canard! I'll teach you to run out on Lord Negaduck! So you'd rather live with that caped_ clown? _  
Well, when I find the both of you, I'll make _him_ pay before _you_ do!

"You can run, little missy--but you just try to _hide. Nobody _gets away from me! I'll make you _really_ wish you'd  
died with your parents--in fact, I'll make you wish you'd never even been _born!"_

Too crazed with rage to analyze his own feelings, as to why it should trouble him to lose a child that he  
supposedly neither loved nor wanted, Negaduck stormed out of his house and jumped on the Troublemaker--  
then set off for the nearest portal to the Normalverse...

END CHAPTER VII

* * *

Yep--I know this is another rush job; and yes, I'm _still_ keeping everyone in suspense about Nega-Gosalyn being  
reunited with her hero. But you've waited long enough for Chapter 7 and I wanted to get it done. I promise, your patience _will_ be rewarded in time! 


	8. Chapter 8

Concrete Angel_  
A __Darkwing Duck__ Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are **my own personal copyright **and may only be used **with my written permission**. _La Author _

My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.

You'll notice a much different song is at the beginning of this chapter. I heard it on a CD I was listening to  
for 4th of July, and it really seemed to fit what's going to happen in this part of the story. If this is more  
drama than action, don't worry---as you'll see in my note down below, that's going to change soon.

Finally, I want to thank all my reviewers of the last chapters, and to apologize for not replying to  
them as I often do. School and other things have taken up so much of my time for the past few  
months, so for those of you who have questions about this, I'll answer them on my review board.

"Hero", by Mariah Carey, is copyrighted by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (at least).

* * *

_It's a long road  
When you face the world alone  
No one reaches out a hand  
For you to hold  
You can find love  
If you search within yourself  
And the emptiness you felt  
Will disappear _

And then a hero comes along  
With the strength to carry on  
And you cast your fears aside  
And you know you can survive  
So when you feel like hope is gone  
Look inside you and be strong  
And you'll finally see the truth  
That a hero lies in you  
---------from "Hero" by Mariah Carey  
_  
_

_Chapter VIII_

Following the directions given to her by the nice counter clerk at Hamburger Hippo, Nega-Gosalyn continued  
searching for Avian Way. She took time to glance at the city around her, noting how much cleaner and friendlier  
it seemed compared to her own world, and was all the more anxious to see the opposite of her neighborhood.  
Her heart pounded merrily as she crossed each street, knowing that she was coming ever closer to her goal.

Finally, she saw it---the street sign at the corner reading: _Avian Way._

She sighed dreamily as she gazed at its suburbs. How peaceful it was! No dirty and run-down houses, no  
weed-filled yards scattered with rocks and broken glass...only beautiful homes with green lawns and flowers,  
and people who lived normal lives instead of running in terror or otherwise raising hell.

"I'm home," breathed Nega-Gosalyn. "And I'll be seeing you soon, Darkwing..."

Logically, she knew her hero wasn't in his home _all_ the time; she glanced back in the direction of Audobon Bay  
Bridge, remembering that he often stayed in the tower close by. But if his opposite could hang out in his own  
neighborhood, then certainly Darkwing must stay at Avian Way when he was off-duty.

Clutching her suitcase, Nega-Gosalyn ran down the sidewalk until she came upon the house bearing the number _  
537_. She stared breathlessly at it; praying that it was not a dream after all, the little girl all but flew across the lawn,  
stopping only when she reached the front door.

Should she ring the doorbell? Should she just burst in, or go in some other way?

But of course she should ring the bell, she realized; after all, she was a visitor. That there was _already_ a Gosalyn  
living in this house was no surprise to her, but for the moment her thoughts were only on Darkwing...

As she reached for the button, Nega-Gosalyn nearly jumped out of her skin when a familiar voice greeted  
her from next door.

_"Gosalyn?"_

She froze, for the voice belonged to Binkie Muddlefoot. But Nega-Gosalyn's fright became astonishment when she  
turned and saw the Muddlefoot housewife walking toward her with a sweet expression on her face--and wearing,  
of all things, a pearl necklace and a blue dress---a _dress!_---with not an inch of black or a single 'skull' to be seen.

"Gosalyn? Is _that_ you?" Binkie questioned, laughing cheerfully. "But what are you doing home from school  
so _soon_, dear?"

_Oops,_ Nega-Gosalyn thought nervously. How was she going to explain _this_ one? She was tired of telling fibs.

"Uh, I...well, you see..." she stammered, fumbling at her pink dress. Fortunately, Binkie was every bit as  
flighty as her Negaverse opposite, and quickly got the wrong impression.

"Oh, I see...they've sent you home to _change!_ My, but what a pretty outfit you're wearing, honey! I always told  
your father you should be looking more lady-like. And you've even curled your _hair!" _she exclaimed with delight  
as she fingered the little girl's auburn locks. "Oh, Gosalyn, you look just _adorable!"_

As she gave Nega-Gosalyn a hug, the child stood open-mouthed. This certainly _wasn't_ the Mrs. Muddlefoot she  
remembered.

"Th..thank you," she replied, blinking, as Binkie called to her husband next door.

"Oh Herb, look! Gosalyn's _finally_ wearing a dress!"

Herb Muddlefoot, who was clipping the hedge, poked his head over the fence; Nega-Gosalyn gaped at what _he_  
was wearing: a straw gardening hat, a Hawaiian-flowered shirt and khaki shorts. None of the Nega-Muddlefoots  
(including Tank) would have been found dead in _that_ get-up. And Nega-Herb would have rather lopped his own  
hand off than do any kind of gardening.

"Well hiya, sweetie!" Herb hollered at the little girl. "Say, that _is_ a cute outfit! Didn't hardly reco'nize ya. Like yer  
hair too!"

Nega-Gosalyn got over her shock long enough to smile; but her surprise was even greater when Launchpad  
now approached from the back yard.

"Hey, Gos!" he said, a curious but friendly grin on his face as he came up. The sight and sound of the red-haired  
pilot startled the child at first---not to mention that he called her _Gosalyn,_ instead of "Pinky" for once.

How different he was from the Launchpad in the Negaverse! There was kindness in both his voice and his eyes.  
Dressed like the pilot he was (instead of a thug with combat boots), this Launchpad was in every way the opposite  
of Negaduck's ruthless companion. In every way, that is, except for the large sandwich he was munching---obviously,  
his appetite was the same.

"Whatcha doin' home from school, Gos?" he asked brightly. "An' how come you're all prettied up like that? Gee,  
they musta changed the dress code at yer school er somethin'."

"Oh, _this?_ I'll explain later, Launchpad," Nega-Gosalyn replied hastily, laughing lightly.

She knew she would have to give the full story soon, but she wasn't ready to let the Muddlefoots in on it.

"So, where's Dark--uh, _Dad?" _she continued.

"He went uptown awhile, kiddo. Don't know when he'll be back."

Nega-Gosalyn was disappointed, but didn't let it show. "Where are Tank and Honker?" she asked Binkie.

"Why, they're still in _school_, sweetheart," the Muddlefoot housewife replied, looking a bit startled. "I thought  
you knew that. They'll be home in a little while."

"Okay. Have a nice day, Mr. and Mrs. Muddlefoot!" called the red-haired duckling as she followed Launchpad to  
the side entrance.

"Sure thing, sweetie! An' Launchpad, don't ferget ta tell Drake about dat barbecue we're havin' Saturday!"  
Herb called back.

"No problemo! See ya 'round," answered LP.

"Bubbeye!" Binkie sang out.

Nega-Gosalyn wandered into the house as if in a trance, still unable to believe how different her world had  
become.

What a blessed change was Avian Way in the Normalverse! Here, there were no insults or unkind nicknames;  
no cruel faces, hateful voices or harsh words. No demands that she wear dark and ugly clothing. Only the love  
and kindness that the little girl's heart had so ached for...

"What a beautiful house!" she cried, almost in tears as she gazed around at the well-kept home. The kitchen  
was especially pleasant, for the floor was clean and waxed and there were decent, _working_ appliances---with  
not a single dirty dish in the sink. Everything in the house was orderly and in good condition, even down to the  
large _color_ TV in the den.

Launchpad was flabbergasted at Nega-Gosalyn's reaction. _It's like she's never lived here before,_ he mused.  
"Well, thanks, Gos," he said, chuckling a little. "But I think ya better clean your room purty soon. Darkwing  
keeps saying Tarzan could hurt hisself in there!"

"But will he be gone much longer? I _really_ need to see him!" the little girl said eagerly, not about to forget her  
main reason for coming.

"Well, I'm on my way t' Darkwing Tower right now...ya can go _with_ me if ya want!" LP answered, smiling as  
he finished his sandwich.

"Really?" squealed Nega-Gos. "Well, what are we waiting for, Launchpad? Let's go!"

She headed for the door, but was halted by LP's astonished voice.

"Ah...Gos? That's not the way to the Tower."

It _wasn't_? The little duckling stood bewildered, and LP looked the same way.

"You okay, Gosalyn?" he asked in concern, and once again Nega-Gosalyn realized her mistake.

"I'm okay, Launchpad," she assured him. "I'll explain everything soon---I promise."

Launchpad was more confused than ever now, but supposed that Darkwing might straighten the whole  
thing out when he got back. So he led his young guest into the den, where two blue chairs sat; on a table  
between them stood a statue of a mouse. He was wearing a cape and holding a magnifying glass.

_How cute!_ Nega-Gos thought, trying not to remember her lost angel figure. But what on earth was LP doing  
to the mouse?

"Hang on, kiddo!" he announced as he smacked the statue's head, and Nega-Gosalyn yelped as she felt her  
chair suddenly spin over. That was only the beginning of the wild ride she was on; she and Launchpad both  
slid down a chute until they landed in room that was both strange and familiar to her.

"That was fun!" she cried, laughing. Then she stared wide-eyed at all the technical equipment that filled the place;  
even Darkwing's tower was so very different from Negaduck's---that same tower where he had imprisoned herself  
and her friends, and tried to kill Darkwing.

Quickly, Nega-Gosalyn put those dark memories aside. She was free now, and in a different world.

"Keen gear!" she exclaimed as she jumped into a seat in front of a computer board covered with lots of colorful  
buttons.

"Ah, Gos? I wouldn't touch those," LP suggested nervously, remembering many a technical accident that  
Gosalyn (the other one) had caused in the past. "Say, why don't I get us a soda from the fridge, and you  
can sit on the couch and wait for your dad?"

Nega-Gosalyn smiled. "Thank you, Launchpad. That would be very nice!"

_Thank you? That would be very nice?_ puzzled Launchpad as he went over to a mini-refrigerator and took out  
two cans of Coo-Coo Cola. Since when was Gosalyn so polite and lady-like all of a sudden? Come to think of  
it, since when did she start wearing a _dress? _Was she feeling all right--or merely trying to pull something?

"Gosalyn?" he asked carefully as he handed Nega-Gos her drink and sat down beside her. "You said something  
earlier about 'explaining' something. Can ya tell me what's going on here?"

The little duckling sighed gently. This would not be easy, but now it was time to tell the truth.

"Okay, Launchpad..I _will_ tell you everything," she declared, gazing trustfully into the pilot's face. "But I  
don't know if you'll believe it..."

* * *

Darkwing had meant to go back to the Tower half an hour ago, but instead wound up driving around in circles. He  
simply could not get the image out of his mind of the little pink-dressed duckling that he had seen--or _thought_ he  
had seen---sitting at Hamburger Hippo. Darkwing was the kind to nitpick and obsess over the least thing anyway;  
but something about the matter kept nagging at him, and he could not shake off that feeling. 

Well, there was only one thing to find out: ask, even if it sounded like he was crazy. So the hero raced back to  
the diner and sat down at the counter.

"Can I help you, mister?" asked the clerk, after he had stopped gaping at Darkwing's outfit.

"Oh, yes. I'd like a chocolate malt, please."

He sat toying with the drink for a minute or two. Then he cleared his throat and spoke up, trying to sound  
as if he didn't care what he was talking about.

"Uh, say...heh, heh...I was riding by this place a little while ago, and---ya know, I was kind of tired, so I  
guess my eyes are playing tricks on me. I could have sworn I saw a little girl in a pink dress sitting right  
_here_ at this counter."

He looked up at the clerk with a sheepish grin. "Crazy, huh?" he went on. The man blinked.

"Well, no, mister. There _was_ a little girl sittin' here, wearin' a pink dress."

Darkwing almost choked on his malt. "You're kidding," he replied, staring at the clerk.

"No, mister. She was sitting right where _you_ are, havin' a burger and a slush. Cute little thing, too."

"Did she have curly red hair? Was she really sweet and polite, and everything?" blurted Darkwing, his  
'act' completely forgotten. The clerk laughed.

"Yeah, she was. Used an awful lotta napkins while she was eatin'. Sweetest little kid I ever seen."

"I _knew_ it!" said the drake under his breath, and the man gave him a suspicious look.

"Why're _you_ so interested in that kid, mister? She in trouble or something? I know she shoulda been  
in school, but you don't look like no truant officer."

Darkwing shook his head hastily. "Oh no, she's not in any trouble, sir! She's the daughter of a...uh,  
friend of mine. She's lost, and I was sent to find her."

"Well, she asked 'bout Avian Way...I reckon she lives there, an' found her way home."

"Uh-huh. Thanks!" Darkwing quickly paid for the malt and left a small tip, then jumped on the Ratcatcher  
and hurried off to Darkwing Tower.

A crazy quilt of emotions stirred in him: relief that he'd been right (rather than crazy); surprise and confusion,  
but concern as well that Nega-Gosalyn was now in _his_ St. Canard. How had she arrived here? What could have  
happened in the Negaverse to make her want to leave it _now?_

* * *

Launchpad sat open-mouthed and dumbstruck at the incredible story he had just heard. Darkwing _had_ told him  
about the Negaverse, but it had been hard to believe that there was actually a place where they all had opposite  
'twins' (only Negaduck's character seemed to have made sense). Yet here was someone whose face and voice  
were very much Gosalyn's, but who didn't behave _or _dress like the little duckling he knew and loved. Not that the  
Gosalyn _he_ knew was a bad kid; she was spirited and rebellious, even disobedient to her father at times---yet l  
oving and lovable all the same. 

"So you _are_ Gosalyn...but you're not _our_ Gosalyn?" questioned the bewildered pilot. "Sheesh, this is so confusing!"

"I know it is, Launchpad," Nega-Gosalyn said sympathetically. "If you could meet the Launchpad in _my_ world,  
you'd _really_ be confused. But it's okay, because I like _you_ much better!"

"Heh heh...thanks!" LP said, grinning awkwardly as Nega-Gosalyn hugged him. But just how awful was _his_ own  
twin?

"I just don't get this Negaverse and Normalverse stuff---uh, Gos," he continued. "You're telling me about this  
weird place where people look just like us, but they _act_ different, and...well, it's really blowing my mind."

"It's true, Launchpad. Believe it."

It was Darkwing's voice. Nega-Gosalyn gasped as she and Launchpad turned to see the caped drake standing  
solemnly in the doorway.

"Darkwing..." she said in a choked voice. She stood up, trembling, and slowly began to walk toward him.

This time it _wasn't_ a dream. Darkwing was here...he was _really_ here.

"Hello, Gosalyn," he said lovingly, smiling as he opened his arms. The child ran straight into his embrace,  
crying with relief and happiness.

"Oh Darkwing! I've found you, I've _finally_ found you!" she sobbed, hugging him as if she would never let go.

He held her close, not speaking at first, but he was close to tears himself; for he had seen the sadness and  
loneliness in Nega-Gosalyn's eyes, in spite of her joy at seeing him. Not surprisingly, the ever-sentimental  
Launchpad started to cry.

"It's great to see you again, sweetheart," Darkwing said at last. "But I thought things were better in the  
Negaverse now, that the Friendly Four was looking after you."

"Oh, they _were_ better, Darkwing...until Negaduck came back!" Nega-Gosalyn explained, her tears wetting the  
hero's cape. "I was glad to see him again at first, but he drove my friends away---and now he's made the  
Negaverse worse than ever!"

"Did he hurt you?" was DW's worried question as they walked over to the couch.

"No, he didn't hit me or anything. He was just mean to me all the time..."

He sat next to her as she told him about the angel statue, and all the misery Negaduck and his evil colleagues  
had put her through. None of this surprised Darkwing, of course--only that his daughter's opposite was still alive  
to talk about it.

"But how did you get _here_, honey?" he asked.

"Tank and the Friendly Four took me to one of the portals. We've got a lot of them in the Negaverse now,  
but Negaduck didn't know about the one in our park..."

Darkwing was stunned to hear of the other portals; he had wondered for a long time as to how Negaduck had  
managed to come back to St. Canard---when he had supposedly been sucked into oblivion after that little  
'accident' with the Universal Plug.

"I know you've got your _own_ Gosalyn to take care of, Darkwing," said Nega-Gosalyn, sniffling. "But I had to  
see you again, at least one more time...I can't ever live with Negaduck again!"

He gazed down at her with eyes full of tenderness and pity, not daring to imagine the sheer hell the child  
had been through.

"Oh, honey," he whispered as he hugged her protectively, "I don't blame you a bit. I don't know what we can  
do just yet; but I _will_ look after you, Gosalyn. And as for Negaduck," he added sternly, "I'll never let that fiend  
get near you again!"

* * *

In another part of St. Canard, a strange and brightly-lit tunnel opened up in a junk-filled alley. Trash cans and  
old crates fell noisily as frightened cats scattered off and fled the alley just in time, when out of the tunnel  
roared a yellow, black and red motorcycle--its driver, a very angry black-masked duck. 

"You'd _better_ run, you mangy felines!" snarled Negaduck. "If I didn't have more important things to do, you'd _  
all_ be roadkill!"

He rode furiously through the city, with none of his usual crime sprees in mind for the time being, searching  
for even the smallest sign of a red-haired duckling in a pink dress.

"Just wait'll I find that little brat," he growled, glaring hard at the children coming out of St. Canard Elementary.  
"If I don't find Darkwing _first_, that is!"

He would have been quite surprised and bewildered to learn the _real_ reason for his anger; that his feelings  
toward his 'adoptive daughter' were not what he wanted to believe they were...and that his mad search for  
a little girl he claimed not to love had nothing after all to do with violence.

* * *

Needless to say, Darkwing was in a pickle. Now that his daughter's Negaverse twin had showed up out of the  
blue, he had figure out how to keep her _and_ how to explain the situation to Gos. She would be home from school  
shortly, so he had to think of something to tell her pretty quick---though "Hey, Gosalyn, meet your opposite from  
the Negaverse," _would_ be pretty awkward, to say the least. 

"Where am I going to stay, Darkwing?" Nega-Gosalyn needed to know.

"You'll certainly stay with _us,_" he assured her. "But you still need a place to sleep."

"I can room with _your_ Gosalyn!" the little girl suggested. She couldn't help feeling a bit wistful that she herself  
wasn't Darkwing's Gosalyn. But no matter; she was still with him, and delighted at the thought of a 'twin sister'  
to play with.

"We'll see what we can work out," Darkwing promised, smiling; though Nega-Gosalyn's remark wasn't making  
a decision any easier. He wasn't sure how his daughter would feel about sharing her room...especially with an  
opposite of herself in fancy dress.

Just then, his cellphone rang, and DW almost jumped when he heard his own Gosalyn's voice.

"Dad? I'm gonna be a little late getting home, okay? Me and Honker and Tank got a baseball game."

"But wait a---oh. _Oh! _All right, Gos," he answered hastily, for once ignoring the duckling's bad grammar. "Have  
fun. Bubbeye!" He quickly hung up.

Gosalyn stood staring open-mouthed at the receiver. She turned to Honker. "What's with Dad?"  
she snapped.

"What do you mean, Gos?" asked Honker, adjusting his glasses.

"He's acting funny, Honk. He didn't tell me to come straight home and do my homework, or like that. It was  
like he was in a hurry to get off the phone. What's he up to?" she continued with sudden suspicion.

Honker shrugged. "Well, as long as he doesn't mind. We'll figure it out later, Gos."

Meanwhile, Darkwing and Launchpad brought Nega-Gosalyn back to the Avian Way house, where DW  
changed out of his purple outfit. Since the little girl was already aware of his Drake Mallard identity, there  
was of course no need to hide it from her.

"How are you going to tell Gos about her opposite?" Launchpad questioned.

"I'll have to let her down easy, of course," answered Drake. "I never told her the full story about that time  
I went to the Negaverse, so _that_ might be the best way to start. So...eh, Gosalyn," he told the curly-haired  
duckling---he was feeling confused already---"why don't you stay upstairs until I've explained it to her, okay?"

Nega-Gos nodded, understanding why her Normalverse twin might be startled at the news. It was just as  
well; the day's journey had caught up with her by now, and she was feeling sleepy.

"Can I take a nap, Darkwing? I'm really tired now..."

"I guess you are, poor kid! Are you hungry, too?" The duckling shook her head, and Drake laughed lightly.  
"That's right, you went to Hamburger Hippo. Well, why don't you sleep in my room? After I talk to..er, the  
_other_ Gosalyn," he continued, "I'll call you out to meet her."

"Keen gear! Thanks," she said happily. She hugged Drake's neck and started quickly upstairs, but he  
stopped her for a minute.

"Um...Gos?" he asked her gently. "Not everyone in St. Canard knows I'm Darkwing Duck, and I need to  
keep that identity a secret. So when I'm dressed like this, call me--er, Uncle Drake, okay?"

"Okay," Nega-Gos answered brightly, though she would have rather called him _Dad_. But they would sort  
things out later, he had said.

He took her upstairs and tucked her in, even kissing her before he left the room. Once she was alone, she lay  
gazing happily around her hero's room. How clean and tidy it was, and how much more cheerful! She could  
actually_ feel_ the love that was in this house, the love that could now be hers after so long...

The child quickly fell asleep, dreaming beautiful dreams; sure in her heart that everything was now as it  
should be...

* * *

An hour later, a certain red-haired duckling was walking down Avian Way with Honker and Tank Muddlefoot. 

"Are you sure we oughta go get pizza, Gos?" asked the youngest Muddlefoot boy. "Your dad might have  
other plans."

Gosalyn shrugged. "Hey, I'll still have room for dinner--unless _Launchpad's_ cooking!" She shuddered as  
she remembered the 'Liver Surprise' LP had served up the night before. "I'll just run into my room and bust  
open my piggy bank!"

By this time, Nega-Gosalyn had awakened. She glanced out into the hall cautiously; no sign yet of her twin.  
She was anxious to meet her Normalverse opposite and hoped that Darkwing would give his little talk soon.  
In the meantime, she decided to check out Gosalyn's room.

She gasped in horror when she saw it; such a hideous mess! The bed hadn't been made, and everywhere lay  
dirty laundry, toys, comic books, empty soda cans and even an unfinished sandwich---_yuck_. Darkwing had  
been right: Tarzan _could_ get hurt in this room.

_Negaduck would have loved this_, thought Nega-Gosalyn with a disgusted head-shake. Then she brightened as  
an idea hit her: why not clean the place herself? That should _certainly_ score some points with her Normalverse  
twin.

"Gosalyn will be _so_ glad I helped out!" she declared. Humming a happy tune, she started picking up the debris.

Drake had been out in the back yard and was on his way to watch for Gosalyn when, to his usual irritation,  
Herb Muddlefoot stopped to talk to him. At that very moment, Honker approached.

"Hey, son! How'd ya do at th' big game?" asked Herb.

"Uh...we lost," replied the youngest Muddlefoot, hoping Drake didn't see Gosalyn running to the front door.

"Yeah, and it's _your_ fault, ya little runt!" snarled Tank as he trudged into his own yard. "You an' your stupid  
allergies!"

"Honker, where's Gosalyn? Isn't she with you?" asked Drake in sudden concern. Needless to say, Honker  
looked uncomfortable.

"Um...yeah, she was, Mr. Mallard...but, uh, she had something to do..." He winced as he heard Drake's  
front door slamming, and Drake panicked.

"Oh no! I've gotta talk to her, right now!" he said under his breath.

"Don't be mad at her, Mr. Mallard!" Honker pleaded. "She just wanted to get pizza..."

"Sure a purty dress yer lil' gurl's got on, Drakester!" called Herb as Drake ran to the house.

"Thanks...I think!" the duck replied as he rushed indoors, hoping to catch Gosalyn before she went upstairs.

Nega-Gosalyn had put the laundry in a pile and was just putting away the scattered toys when she heard a  
voice much like her own---but this voice was yelling gruffly:

"HEY! What're you doing in my room?"

Startled, Nega-Gosalyn whirled around and found herself facing her opposite. Gosalyn shrank back and gasped.

"Wh..who are _you?"_ she stammered.

---------

END CHAPTER VIII

* * *

Yep, you all finally got to see it---Gosalyn Meets Nega-Gosalyn! I don't know when I'll get to Chapter 9, but I hope  
it'll be soon---from here on out the story gets even more dramatic and angsty, so you can imagine I'm on a roll at  
this point. But I'm still in Study Purgatory, so again I ask you: please don't rush! I still have three other stories  
to work on too, and I've no idea when I'll get to _those_ suckers. 


	9. Chapter 9

Concrete Angel_  
A Darkwing Duck Fanfic_  
by E. Grimes

All _Darkwing Duck _characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters  
are **my own personal copyright **and may only be used **with my written permission**. _La Author _

My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her  
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.

A/N: Not a whole heck of a lot to write here, except I'm glad to be back on this story after having  
it on the back burner for so long. I'm through with school but looking for work, yada yada yada;  
but for those anxiously waiting for the action to pick up, your patience will soon be rewarded!

"Hero", by Mariah Carey, is copyrighted by Sony.

* * *

_It's a long road  
When you face the world alone  
No one reaches out a hand  
For you to hold  
You can find love  
If you search within yourself  
And the emptiness you felt  
Will disappear _

And then a hero comes along  
With the strength to carry on  
And you cast your fears aside  
And you know you can survive  
So when you feel like hope is gone  
Look inside you and be strong  
And you'll finally see the truth  
That a hero lies in you  
---------from "Hero" by Mariah Carey

_Chapter IX_

Nega-Gosalyn could make no reply at first. She only stared, dumbfounded, at what might have looked  
like her mirror image---except that her 'reflection' wore ponytails and dressed like a tomboy, and at this  
moment was staring back in both suspicion and shock.

"Who ARE you?" Gosalyn repeated, wondering if she had fallen asleep at the ball game and was now having  
some freaky nightmare.

Her twin shuffled her feet and cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um...well, Gosalyn---I guess I'm..._you."_

"No you're not!" snapped Gosalyn. "Is this some kind of stupid joke?" But she began to feel scared, for  
she knew it _wasn't_ a joke---that something _really_ creepy was going on here.

Nega-Gosalyn sighed, though she was starting to feel rather nervous herself. "It's not a joke, Gosalyn.  
I _am_ you---at least, I'm you in another universe..."

Gosalyn blinked a few seconds, then stumbled out of her room.

_"DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!"_ she screamed as she tore down the stairs and nearly knocked  
down Drake, who had been on his way up.

"Oh, great," sighed Drake. "I was afraid I'd get here too late!"

"Dad, who's that girl in my room?" Gos blurted as she clung frantically to her father. "She said she's _me_, Dad!  
She _looks_ like me, but I'd never wear that geeky dress!"

"Now Gosalyn, that's not very nice," scolded Drake, seeing that Nega-Gosalyn was coming downstairs. That he seemed  
not at all surprised by the situation was all the more bewildering to his daughter.

"Dad!_ You're not answering my question!" _

Drake groaned. This obviously wasn't going to be easy. To complicate things further, by this time Honker  
had come into the house with Launchpad and stood gaping at the two Gosalyns.

"All I can say for now, honey," Drake began hesitantly, "is that she's right."

Now Gosalyn wasn't sure if she _was_ having a nightmare, or if her dad was simply trying to drive  
her crazy.

"It's a long story," he continued, "so we'd all better sit down. I'll have this straightened out in no time---  
I hope."

* * *

Gosalyn had dealt with a lot of weird things in her life from the time Darkwing adopted her; but his complete  
story about the Negaverse stood an excellent chance of topping them all. 

"Honey, remember that time I disappeared during Honker's birthday party a couple of years ago? Do you  
remember my telling you that I went to a place called the Negaverse---where everything and _everybody_ is  
opposite?"

"Yeah," Gosalyn said weakly, as she glanced uneasily at her own 'opposite'. But what really shocked her  
was the fact that her twin had been living with _Negaduck.  
_  
"Man," she groaned, "it was really a crazy place, huh?"

"It was. _Everyone_ was different, including the Fearsome Four and the Muddlefoots." Drake chuckled a little  
as he noticed both Honker and Nega-Gosalyn gawking curiously at each other. "Guess you never thought  
you'd see Gosalyn in a dress, did you, Honk?"

"Um...nope, Mr. Mallard," the youngest Muddlefoot replied, blushing as Nega-Gosalyn smiled at him.

"You seem so much nicer than you are in the Negaverse," she said softly. "You're just as nice as my friend  
Tank!"

"Tank---_nice?" _exclaimed both Honker and Gosalyn. Now they'd heard _everything_.

"Yeah. Just blows your mind, doesn't it?" Drake commented, grinning.

"Blows _mine_, all right," replied Launchpad, shaking his head. "But how are we gonna explain this to  
the neighbors, DW--uh, Drake?"

Now _there_ was a problem. Honker was already in on the situation, but had shared enough of the  
Mallard family's adventures that he could be trusted to keep quiet.

"Er...maybe we could tell 'em she's your visiting cousin, Gos?" he suggested. "That would explain why you  
two look alike."

"I guess so," Gosalyn said weakly. She was still unable to completely grasp the situation, and frankly  
wasn't at all comfortable with it. However, everyone else thought the idea made sense, and now there  
was the question of finding shelter for their little guest.

As Drake went into the kitchen to start dinner, Gosalyn followed him and took up the subject.

"Where's she gonna stay, Dad?" she asked, watching her father rummage through the refrigerator.

"Why, _here_, of course!" he answered. "Where else?"

"I mean...where's she gonna sleep?"

"Well...can't she sleep in your room, Gos?"

_"My_ room?" blurted Gosalyn. Drake gave her a slightly stern look for a moment.

"Certainly, your room. For Heaven's sake, Gos, she's got to stay _somewhere_. It's not like the Muddlefoots  
could put her up or anything."

_Why not?_ Gosalyn wanted to ask. But she only muttered "Oh", as her eyes sullenly went to the floor.  
Drake stopped what he was doing and glanced back at her anxious expression.

"Gosalyn, honey," he explained gently, "I know I'm asking a lot of you right now. But Gos---er,  
_Nega_-Gosalyn just hasn't got a home anymore...and sometimes, we have to think of other people  
beside ourselves."

"I know," Gos replied tensely, wincing as she heard her father call this strange girl by _her own _name. Drake  
sensed what was in her thoughts.

"I know how you feel about someone else sharing your room," he said, "but she's _not_ here to take your  
place, sweetheart. She's just a lost little soul with nowhere else to turn. Besides, you've had sleepovers  
before, haven't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well," Drake continued, "think of this as just another sleepover. We'll work something out, as soon as  
we can."

Gosalyn nodded, feeling a little better. "But let's think of another name to call her, okay? So nobody gets  
confused, anyway?"

Drake laughed, and promised they'd work _that_ out, too.

* * *

Having been the 'only child' for some time, it was only natural that Gosalyn should feel territorial about her  
'space'. Fortunately, her opposite understood how she felt. 

"I can sleep on the couch, Gosalyn," Nega-Gos suggested, as the two of them got ready for bed that night.  
Her 'hostess' was tempted to take her up on the offer, but remembered what Drake had told her.

"Nah...it's okay," Gosalyn said, feeling she was lying just a little. "Do you want to borrow one of my nightshirts?"

"No, thanks. I brought a nightgown with me." The duckling quickly fished it out of her little suitcase  
and held it out. "See?"

"Uh...yeah..." replied Gos, trying hard not to wince at the frilly pink garment. _Geez, she even **sleeps** like a geek!  
_she observed in dismay. "It's...uh...cute," she fibbed.

"Thanks! You can borrow it if you want to."

"Um...some other time, maybe." The duckling put on an old dorm shirt and slipped quickly into bed. "Okay, g'night.  
And don't hog the covers, okay?"

She lay there a few moments, then turned to Nega-Gosalyn, who for some reason just stood there, glancing  
questioningly at her companion.

"Aren't you coming to bed?" she wanted to know.

"Not till I say my prayers. I say them every night."

Gosalyn wasn't surprised: anyone who lived with Negaduck had _better_ be praying.

"_You_ say them too, don't you?" Nega-Gos asked innocently.

_Oh, gimme a break!_ "Of course I do---sometimes..."

"Come on!" Nega-Gos declared cheerfully, kneeling down before the bed and motioning for Gos to do the  
same.

"Do we have to?" groaned the duckling. "C'mon, I'm tired."

"Just a little one! It won't hurt anything," insisted her guest. Rolling her eyes, Gosalyn climbed out of her  
bed and slumped down beside Nega-Gosalyn, who folded her hands and closed her own eyes.

"God bless my new friend Gosalyn," she began. "God bless Darkwing--I mean, Uncle Drake---and Launchpad,  
and the Muddlefoots, and thank You for bringing me here..."

_Well, that's nice,_ mused Gosalyn; but what followed in Nega-Gosalyn's prayer was the ultimate shocker.

"God bless the Friendly Four and Tank," continued the pink-dressed duckling, "and all my other friends  
in the Negaverse...and the other Muddlefoots, and Launchpad...and God? Please bless Negaduck and  
help him to be a better person. Amen!"

Gosalyn's jaw almost hit the floor. Bless _who?_

"You've gotta be _kidding_ me!" she blurted.

Nega-Gosalyn crept under the covers. "No, I'm not kidding," she said, blinking curiously at her room-mate.

"What's the matter?" asked Darkwing, having changed from his Drake identity and was now coming to  
tuck the children in for the night.

"Dad, she just prayed for_ Negaduck!"_ Gos said incredulously as she got into bed.

Darkwing laughed. "Well, he could use some praying. Though I think an _exorcism_ would be more in order!"

"Are you going out on patrol?" Gosalyn asked hopefully. Darkwing shook his head.

"Not if I don't need to. But I _am_ going to the Tower for awhile. I think with the excitement we've had today,  
for once I won't mind if we all stay home."

He kissed them goodnight and left. For some minutes the two Gosalyns lay quietly in the dark, each thinking  
her own thoughts. Finally, Gos spoke.

"Hey, uh..._you?"_

"What is it, Gos?"

"Well first off, we gotta give you another name. He can't call _both_ of us Gosalyn."

"Yeah...I guess not," Nega-Gos had to admit. "We'll think of a new name tomorrow..."

Gosalyn lay thinking of how odd it was that Nega-Gosalyn had lived with someone like Negs, yet was  
nothing like him. What was even stranger was that, despite the obvious difference, Negaduck had let  
this kid _live_. Finally, Gos spoke up.

"What was it like...living with---_him?"_

Nega-Gosalyn frowned, not sure of how to answer.

"If you don't wanna talk about it...I'm just wondering, that's all."

"No, it's okay. He could be really scary sometimes though."

"No duh," Gos remarked, remembering many of her own scary moments with the evil masked mallard.  
But she began to feel a new sympathy for her room-mate, and turned to her in concern.

"Did he...did he hurt you?" she asked anxiously.

"No..."

"You mean, Negaduck didn't beat you up or _anything?" _was the incredulous reply.

Nega-Gosalyn shook her head.

The fact that Negs had never harmed his 'daughter' was impossible to believe. "He didn't even _hit_ you?  
Didn't touch you at all? Look, if you're scared to talk about it, it's okay..."

"Gosalyn," Nega-Gos insisted patiently, "I'm telling you the truth. Dad---I mean, Negaduck never hurt me. At  
_all."_

"Why, though? He hurts everybody else. What stopped him from hurting _you?"_

The other duckling shook her head, equally puzzled. "I don't know. The night I left, he was so mad and so  
crazy, and he looked like he was _really_ going to hit me this time. But for some reason, he didn't..."

Gosalyn was stunned---and equally surprised at hearing anyone call Negs _Dad_. In her mind (and most  
anyone else's), a sweet and helpless little girl in the same room with Negaduck stood as much chance of  
survival as one of the Little Lost Bunnies.

"Negaduck just yelled at me all the time," her twin explained. "He called me names all the time, too. So did  
Launchpad."

It was incredible for Gos to picture _Launchpad_ being unkind---just as it was hard to imagine sitting at the  
breakfast table with her father's arch-enemy.

"Then why did you stay with Negs...till now, I mean?"

Nega-Gos gazed up at the ceiling a few moments.

"I loved him," she said simply.

Now Gosalyn had _really_ heard it all.

"You loved _Negaduck?" _she exclaimed, blinking.

Her opposite nodded solemnly.

"But...but how could you love _him? _How could _anybody_ love him?" stammered Gosalyn.

Nega-Gos sighed, having asked herself that same question at times. But deep down, she knew  
the answer.

"Somebody has to..."

Gos would have begged to differ with _that_ one. "Then why did you leave?"

"Because," Nega-Gosalyn whispered, "he wouldn't love _me."_

_That_ was no surprise. "Well, that's how he is," said Gos. "Negaduck can't love _anybody."_

It was time to change the subject. Nega-Gosalyn had realized her dream at last, and wanted to put  
her life with Negs behind her.

"Well, I'm away from him at last," she said brightly. "And I'm in a better place now. Gos, I won't be any  
trouble to you, I promise. And I'm glad you and Darkwing found each other."

"Thanks. I am, too," replied Gos, yawning as she turned away and settled into her half of the pillow. Nega-  
Gosalyn turned to her own side of the bed, her thoughts now beginning to drift to happier things. But she  
couldn't help making one last comment about her former guardian...

"He must have loved _somebody_...a long time ago..."

* * *

An anguished cry broke the silence of a cheap, rat-infested motel room. Negaduck jerked up from his bed,  
sweating and breathing hard, and stared about in terror for some seconds before his senses returned. 

"Hey, what's going on in there?" called a voice next door.

_"Shuddup!"_ Negs snarled, hurling a vase against the wall. "Mind your own business, you dirty &#!"

He sat back against the wall, glaring sullenly ahead of him. That damned dream again...he'd been having  
it a lot since Nega-Gosalyn ran off. But why?

One thing for certain, he wasn't about to go back to sleep. Not in _this_ dump, anyway.

Dressing quickly, Negaduck kicked the door open and stalked out of the hotel---giving a murderous glower at the  
motel clerk, who suddenly decided to forget about the room rate. The Troublemaker roared out into the night, its  
masked rider searching the streets with one maddened purpose...

_Where are you, you miserable little brat? **Where are you?  
**_**  
**  
END CHAPTER IX

* * *

Yep, I know: another rush job. But I've got some other projects lined up and had to get this going. Anyhow,  
you got to see some interaction between the two Gosalyns. Hang on, things will start to get more angsty  
by Chapter 10! Meanwhile, I'm hoping to work on what may or may not be the first Ludwig von Drake fanfic  
ever. Enjoy! 


	10. Chapter 10

Concrete Angel

A _Darkwing Duck _Fanfic

by Brideofbasil

Disclaimer: All _Darkwing _characters are (c) Disney. This story is (c) by yours  
truly. Please don't use it in any way without my permission. Thanks!

* * *

_**Chapter 10**_

_I hope you never lose your sense of wonder  
You get your fill to eat  
But always keep that hunger  
May you never take one single breath for granted  
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed  
I hope you still feel small  
When you stand by the ocean  
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens  
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance_

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance  
I hope you dance  
I hope you dance

From "I Hope You Dance", (c) by Lee Ann Womack

------------------------------------------------

"How'd you girls sleep last night?" was Drake's cheerful question the next morning.

"Okay," yawned Gosalyn.

"Just fine, Uncle Drake!" Nega-Gosalyn replied happily as she joined her twin at the breakfast table. Today was the start of a brand-new day at (as  
she hoped) her new home, and the little duckling was so excited she could hardly eat---a good thing perhaps, since Launchpad had made the breakfast.

"You _cook_, too?" was her delighted question as Launchpad flopped some rather odd-looking omelets on everybody's plates. She could hardly picture Nega-Launchpad going to that kind of trouble---once she saw him chow down an entire box of frozen waffles because he was too lazy to turn on the microwave.

"Yep! Mosta the time," the red-haired pilot replied with a grin.

"If you could _call _it that, anyway," mumbled Drake under his breath. He stared at his omelet. "Uh…do I dare ask what's in it?"

"Oh, lotsa good stuff, DW---uh, Drake. Cheese, onions, sausage…"

"That sounds okay," Drake said as he took a bite.

"…oh yeah, and some hot peppers."

"Uh, Dad…" warned Gosalyn, but Drake had already swallowed his bite of food. The next thing he knew, he was turning red and starting to  
sweat. As everybody stared, the duck gasped and fanned his beak, then ran frantically over to the refrigerator---where he grabbed a carton  
of orange juice and drank it dry.

"I guess I put in too many peppers," was Launchpad's innocent suggestion.

"You _think?_" Drake snapped in a raspy voice. LP took away the children's plates with an embarrassed grin and dished out some cold cereal  
for them.

"Thank you, Launchpad," Nega-Gosalyn said sweetly. "And it's okay…at least you made the effort."

The red-haired pilot smiled, but Gosalyn rolled her eyes. This kid was just _too _darned nice.

"Good thing this is Saturday," Drake declared as he sat back down with his own bowl of cereal. "We can all spend the day together. But  
we'll need to figure out how to get you registered in school, Nega-Gosalyn."

"But we still don't know what to call her," Gosalyn said. "We thought of a few names, but they all sound geeky."

"Why can't we just call her the name she's got?" Launchpad asked.

"It won't make any sense," Drake answered. "Although…" He sat deep in thought for a few minutes, then he said to Nega-Gosalyn with  
a sly smile:

"Honey, your initials would be _N.G._, wouldn't they?"

"Why, yes."

"That sounds a lot like _Angie_, so how would you like _that _name? We can still call you your real name here at home."

"Okay!" she said brightly. After all, 'Angie' _was _a nice name---it reminded her of the word 'angel'. Unfortunately, it also conjured up the  
image of her broken angel statue; but now that she was in the Normalverse and in her much-loved hero's presence, the memory was not  
so painful as it might have been.

And so, _Angie _it was. Now there remained some explanation for the two girls' looking so much alike; but that would come in time.

"I could wash the dishes, Uncle Drake!" Nega-Gosalyn piped up, seeing Drake gathering up the breakfast dishes.

"Why, that's very nice of you, honey," Drake answered. "Maybe Gosalyn could help you."

Gosalyn almost choked on her juice when he said that. "_Please_, Dad---she's a _guest _here! Don'tmake her do any chores!" she begged.  
Drake gave her a dubious look, knowing that his daughter's motives were far from selfless.

"Oh, I don't mind," Nega-Gosalyn said perkily.

"_I _do," Gos muttered under her breath. This kid was starting to make her look bad.

Launchpad came to the rescue. "_I'll_ do 'em," he declared with a grin.

"Thanks, Launchpad!" yelped Gosalyn, hugging the pilot and running quickly out of the house. Drake shook his head as he heard the  
screen door slam.

"Isn't it amazing, Launchpad, how two little girls can both be so alike---and so _different_?" he observed.

"I can help _dry_ the dishes," suggested Nega-Gosalyn with a sunny smile.

"Nah, that's okay, kiddo," Launchpad replied kindly. "Drake here can do that."

Drake raised his eyebrows at that, but smiled at Nega-Gosalyn and patted the little duckling's auburn curls. "You're very sweet to offer,  
honey; but everything's under control. You just go outside and play with Gosalyn."

He watched her go out the door and sighed. So far, things were working out all right.

"What shall we play?" Nega-Gosalyn asked eagerly as she joined her opposite in the back yard. "Jump-rope? Jacks? Hide 'n' Go Seek?"

_What nerdy games! _Gosalyn thought with disgust. "I don't know…"

"Hey, I know!" chirped her twin. "I can go into the house and bring out my _dolls!"_

_**No way! **_"Uh, never mind, 'Angie'!" the duckling said frantically. "Hide 'n' Go Seek sounds fine!" For a tempting few seconds she  
considered running off while her opposite was hiding.

"Hey, Gos! And, uh…Gos too?" stuttered Honker as he came into the yard. He still couldn't quite get over seeing two Gosalyns.

"Her name's _Angie _now," Gosalyn explained. "It's a long story, Honk."

"Oh, that's okay. Angie's a nice name," Honker said.

"Why thank you, Honker!" Nega-Gosalyn said sweetly, smiling at the boy. He blushed, and forgot why he came over for some seconds.

"_Ahem! _Earth calling Honker??" Gosalyn interrupted.

"Oh, sorry, Gos," Honker said, blinking. "I just came over to tell you we've got another baseball game at the park. You wanna come?"

"You bet, Honk!" Gosalyn explained happily. "Lemme go get my stuff…" She ran into the house to get her cap and glove, then almost  
crashed into Drake on the way out.

"Where are _you _going so fast?" he asked her, startled.

"Got another game today," was Gosalyn's hurried explanation. "Bye Dad!"

"Whoa, whoa…hold it, young lady!" Drake called before his daughter could run out the door. "Let's skip the game for now,  
Gos. I'm planning on having a _family day _today."

Gosalyn rolled her eyes, knowing 'family day' could mean anything from a long, boring tour of the St. Canard Museum to a horrific  
camping trip out in the middle of nowhere.

"Dad, do we _have _to?"

"Well…_yes_. After all, Nega-Gos…er, _Angie _just got here, honey. We're going to take her uptown and show her the sights; let her get  
a look at a _better _St. Canard."

"Can't we do that stuff _after _the game?"

Drake folded his arms and frowned.

"Guess I take that as a 'no', right?" Gosalyn continued glumly.

"Gosalyn, can't you forget about the game for today?" her father suggested. He might as well have asked his daughter to jump off a cliff.

"_Daaaaaaaaaaaaad---"_

"Now, Gosalyn," Drake said firmly, "don't you remember our little talk yesterday? About thinking of other people besides yourself?"

"Yeah," muttered the pony-tailed duckling, her eyes to the floor.

"Come on, honey," her father insisted, gently taking her by the shoulders. "There'll be other games. Besides, it'll be a lot of fun! We'll  
go to the museum---"

_I knew it, _Gosalyn thought with chagrin.

"---we'll take you girls around the mall, and go shopping for some new clothes and school supplies; and if there's time, we'll take in a  
nice G-rated movie!"

"Please, Dad, not _too _much fun in one day," begged Gosalyn.

Drake chose to ignore the sarcasm in that remark. "Anyway, go call Angie and get ready to go."

"Okay, okay…!" She stomped out, letting the screen door slam, and went to look for her twin. She found Nega-Gosalyn and Honker talking  
pleasantly together, which somehow annoyed her. Honker wasn't exactly her boyfriend, but she'd never imagined him paying attention to  
any other girl.

"I can't come to the game, Honk," she announced crossly. "Dad wants us to do 'family' stuff today!"

"He does?" Nega-Gosalyn said happily.

"Yeah…he said come in and get ready. Sorry, Honk," Gosalyn told her friend.

"It's okay, Gos," Honker said, smiling. "You and Angie have fun."

_Yeah, right! _"See you later, Honk."

"Goodbye, Honker," called Nega-Gosalyn, waving cheerfully as she followed her twin back to the house. Drake, watching at the door,  
saw Gosalyn roll her eyes and he shook his head with a sigh. It looked like his daughter still wasn't adjusting too well to their new guest.

_She's just used to being the only child, _he reasoned. _And this **is **a pretty drastic change for her right now; it is for all of us. She'll learn  
to deal with it, though…I **hope**._

* * *

To give Gosalyn credit, she was doing her best to keep her father's advice in mind, as well as what she and her opposite had talked about  
the previous night. She tried to understand how different her own world was to Nega-Gosalyn, and why her twin so badly needed the love  
and attention being lavished on her. 

Gosalyn knew all too well what it had been like to feel alone and insecure, as she had been after her grandfather's death---that is, until  
Darkwing entered her life. But despite her happiness with him and Launchpad, there were some emotional scars that remained to be  
healed. The loneliness and rejection she had felt in the orphanage had never fully been shaken off---as if some sleeping part of her  
expected her adoptive family to be taken away as suddenly as her real one.

It was that bit of insecurity that at first made Gosalyn try to be kind and patient toward her opposite twin, whose psyche must surely  
have been scarred from her hellish life with Negaduck. And she _did _enjoy the "family day" somewhat, despite the boring trip to the  
museum. Nega-Gosalyn herself had a wonderful time, especially at the mall---where Gosalyn tried unsuccessfully to talk her into  
buying a soccer shirt and sneakers ("You gotta quit wearing geeky stuff all the time," she reasoned). The G-rated movie was a  
refreshing surprise for the curly-haired duckling, after the constant barrage of violence on her guardian's TV.

"Watch a _zombie _movie with me sometime," Gosalyn suggested on the way home.

"What's a zombie?" Nega-Gosalyn asked.

Her twin was more than happy to enlighten her. "Zombies are _cool_!" she said excitedly, raising her hands like claws and leaning  
menacingly toward Nega-Gosalyn. "They're real creepy and gross, and _they come out late at night to feed off your brains!"_

"Ewwwwwwwwwwww----"

"_Gosalyn!" _barked Drake.

"Well, that does it for dinnertime," Launchpad said weakly.

"Don't worry, he'll get over it," Gos whispered. "Anyway, I rented _Attack of the Killer Zombies _yesterday. We'll watch it tonight."

"Okay," Nega-Gosalyn whispered back uncertainly, feeling zombies weren't her cup of tea but wanting to get along with her opposite.

Later that night, she sat huddled up on the couch with Gosalyn and Launchpad as the "Killer Zombies" terrorized a whole town, while  
Gosalyn (who had seen hundreds of such movies) calmly munched a bowl of popcorn. Needless to say, Nega-Gosalyn and even  
Launchpad weren't in the mood for any.

"Tell me when it's over!" Nega-Gosalyn pleaded.

"Don't you like this movie?" asked Gos, chuckling. "It's one of my _many _favorites!"

Nega-Gosalyn shook her head emphatically. "It's so violent and _gross_! Don't you have _Bambi _or anything like that?"

"That _would_ be nice," suggested LP.

"Please, I'm _eating_," was the disgusted comment.

When the screen credits started running, Nega-Gosalyn sighed with relief. "I'm sorry, Gosalyn, but I think you'll have to watch  
all the zombie movies by yourself."

"_Nobody _should be watching those!" declared Darkwing, who had changed from his Drake Mallard identity and now came downstairs.  
Nega-Gosalyn's heart leapt to see her familiar idol once again.

"Are you going on patrol, Darkwing?" she asked eagerly.

"Yep," he answered proudly. "And you ladies are going to _bed_. Launchpad, why don't you check up on things in the  
Tower before you turn in? I think I'll go out alone tonight."

"We wanna go with you!" both Gosalyns begged together.

"Nope, sorry, kids," Darkwing said firmly. "It's really late, so time for bed. Come on, now," he insisted as they groaned in protest. "The  
streets might be dangerous, and you've seen _enough _scary stuff tonight."

"You got _that _right," mumbled Nega-Gosalyn, shuddering as she tried not to think about zombies. "I sure hope I don't have nightmares!"

Darkwing frowned a little at Gosalyn. "Why don't you let her watch _Bambi _next time?"

"Oh, _please!" _replied Gosalyn, putting her finger down her throat and pretending to gag. "Then _I'll _have nightmares, Dad!"

"Never mind. Goodnight, girls," Darkwing said gently, hugging and kissing each of them as they went upstairs. "Maybe some other  
night you can go with me, okay?"

"Okay," sighed Gosalyn resignedly. As for Nega-Gosalyn, the prospect of sharing Darkwing's adventures quickly made her forget  
any killer zombies as she happily danced upstairs.

* * *

The night streets were unusually quiet as Darkwing roared out on his Ratcatcher. Normally that would have disappointed him, but he  
was still preoccupied with the strange events of the previous day, and the surreal effect they now had on his life. He was grateful to  
have the time alone to think the situation over. 

However, he wasn't the only one thinking things over. On the roof of a skyscraper some distance away, a lone and angry figure  
glared through a pair of binoculars as the purple-caped duck raced through the city.

"She's out there somewhere," he hissed. "And you'll lead me _right_ to her, Darkwing!"

With one last glare at his enemy, Negaduck turned and left the building. It was only a matter of time…

* * *

"Hi, Mrs. Muddlefoot! Um, this is Angie, my cousin from far away…she's come to stay with us awhile," was Gosalyn's introduction  
to Binkie the next morning. The Muddlefoot housewife had stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar and was flabbergasted to find what  
appeared to be _two _Gosalyns. 

"How nice to see you, Angie!" Binkie chirped. "Oh, my! You two look so much alike, I could have sworn _you _were Gosalyn the other  
day. Why didn't you tell me your real name, honey?" she asked Nega-Gosalyn.

The curly-headed duckling blinked, not sure how to answer this (and really _not _wanting to lie anymore), but her twin came to the rescue.

"Uh…y-you see, Mrs. Muddlefoot, it's a little game Angie and I like to play. We look so much alike we always try to see if we can fool  
anybody," Gosalyn explained, laughing nervously.

Fortunately, her ditzy neighbor believed her. "Oh, I see!" she exclaimed, laughing as well and patting 'Angie' on the head. "Well, welcome  
to St. Canard, sweetie. You girls have fun with your little game!"

"Whew," Gosalyn sighed after Binkie left. "Am I gonna have to do this _all _the time?"

"I hope not," was Nega-Gosalyn's worried remark. "You told her a fib, Gosalyn."

"Hey! Sometimes you _have _to!" Gosalyn replied with a slight frown. "You can't tell people the whole truth all the time…"

Nega-Gos, having learned _that _fact the hard way, could make no argument. Yet she couldn't really understand the need for lying in  
Darkwing's world. In the Negaverse, it was basically a means to survive. But who really needed to lie in the Normalverse---this place  
she had so longed to go to, and where she hoped to be happy?

But the innocent child was still living her dream, and had yet to look at the other side of the proverbial coin. For the time being, she was  
still seeing the ideal vision of her hero's universe and could not imagine anything could _ever _change it.

She was in for a rude awakening.

----------------

_End Chapter 10_

* * *

Sorry if this chapter seems kinda dull compared to the others, but I was dealing with Writer's Block and was pretty much (no pun  
intended) 'winging it' . I may or may not revise this later on; anyway, I wanted to have an interlude where Nega-Gosalyn is trying  
to settle down and adjust to Darkwing's world and his family---which, in turn, is trying to adjust to _her_. If anyone's got issues with  
this chapter, be honest but please be kind. Thanks! 


	11. Chapter 11

_**Concrete Angel**_

A _Darkwing Duck _Fanfic  
by LuvvyDuck

Disclaimer: All _Darkwing _characters are (c) Disney. This story is (c) by yours  
truly. Please don't use it in any way without my permission. Thanks!

_________________________________________________________

_**Chapter 11**_

_Someday when we are wiser__  
When the world's older  
When we have learned__  
I pray someday we may yet live  
To live and let live…_

_---_From Disney's _Hunchback of Notre Dame_

At first, it seemed that both "Gosalyns" were making the adjustment to the sudden change in their lives. It came easier for Nega-Gosalyn  
(or _Angie_, as she had to be called now), since so much of her twin's world was a welcome reverse from the one she had escaped.

It was quite difficult for Gosalyn, however. Even though she was aware that "Angie" was an opposite of herself, this newcomer to the household had suddenly---though quite innocently---compromised the first real security she had known since her grandfather's death.  
That Nega-Gosalyn _was _a differing self was the root of the problem, since she was polite, obedient, tidy and helpful…all the things Drake  
had wanted his daughter to be. How long before he might decide he preferred the _other _Gosalyn?

No…she wasn't going to drive herself crazy worrying about that stuff. After all, that couldn't really happen…_could _it?

------------------------------------

"Gosalyn, it might be a good idea to keep Angie away from Tank," counseled Drake as the duckling was getting ready for school.  
"He's not nice like the Tank she knew in the Negaverse."

"He can't be that bad, can he?" Nega-Gosalyn questioned anxiously.

"Oh _yes, _he can!" Gosalyn replied. "I'm not scared of him, but _you _oughta be. Hey Dad, is…uh, 'Angie' going to school, too?"

"Please, can I?" Nega-Gos begged. "I really miss going to school!"

Both Drake and Gosalyn looked equally shocked, but Drake clamped a hand on his daughter's beak before she could blurt out that  
the kid was crazy.

"I'd do _anything _to stay out of school!" Gosalyn insisted, once she could talk again.

"I know that all too well," replied her father, rolling his eyes as he remembered the "stomach-aches" and other phony ailments  
Gosalyn had thought up to stay home. "Well, we haven't registered you yet, Angie. I won't have time to do it today, but we'll take  
you by the principal's office tomorrow morning."

"Okay," she sighed.

_So __**she **__gets to stay home today? _Gosalyn thought, blinking as they all got into the car. She wasn't sure where this was going, but she  
_was _sure that she didn't like it one bit.

She liked it even less when she came home and discovered that Nega-Gosalyn and Drake had spent the whole day housekeeping  
and running errands together. What was worse, her bedroom had been completely cleaned by her twin.

"What'd you do to my room??" Gosalyn exclaimed as she gaped around in horror. She glanced down at her unusually clean floor; funny,  
she didn't remember having a blue carpet all that time.

"I just tidied it up a little, Gos," Nega-Gosalyn said humbly.

"But where are my comic books? Where are my video games? _And what'd you do with my zombie movies??"_ Gosalyn demanded as  
she frantically searched through her dresser and under her bed. "If you trashed any of my stuff, Angie, you're gonna get it!!"

Nega-Gosalyn gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, there were some old pizza crusts and candy wrappers lying on the floor, and empty  
soda cans. You didn't want to keep _those_, did you?"

"_You _know what I mean!" snapped Gosalyn as she glared fiercely at her twin.

"Don't worry, Gosalyn! I put your movies and stuff in a special place. Here…" She pulled a cardboard box out of the closet, and  
Gosalyn was quite relieved to find her comics and other treasures safely stored away. However, she was still aggravated at what  
she felt to be an invasion of her territory.

"Angie, don't touch my stuff without asking me first!"

"I'm sorry…I just wanted to help. Dad…uh, Uncle Drake said he's _always _after you to clean your room…"

"Yeah? And he wishes I was more like _you_, right?" retorted Gosalyn, stung that Drake had

complained about her to her own opposite---but especially that 'Angie' had started to call him _Dad_.

Nega-Gosalyn stared down at the floor. Drake hadn't exactly said anything to that effect, but maybe that implication _was _there. She  
hadn't meant to hurt Gosalyn; she had only thought to make things easier.

"Gosalyn, I'm really sor---"

"_Don't _say it! Don't say 'I'm sorry' again!" blurted her twin. "Would you stop being so friggin' _polite _all the time? _Geez!!!_"

"Gosalyn? What's going on up there?"

It was Drake's voice, and Gosalyn froze as her father came into the room and gazed around in concern.

"Everything okay in here?" he asked, blinking.

Gosalyn swallowed hard. "Uh-huh…"

"Are you _sure?_" Drake insisted, his eyebrows raised. "Launchpad and I could hear you yelling all over the house."

Nega-Gosalyn cleared her throat. "Uncle Drake?"

_Oh great…now she's gonna __**tattle**__, _fumed Gosalyn.

"Gosalyn was worried that all her stuff was missing," the curly-haired duckling explained. "I really should've asked her before putting  
her things away. It _is _her room, isn't it, Uncle Drake?"

"Well, yes; but you _are _a guest here. Though I guess we should've waited till you came home and could've helped out, eh, Gosalyn?"  
Drake remarked with a sly smile at his daughter.

Gosalyn had quite a different opinion, but only gave a sullen shrug.

"Thanks for cleanin' my room, Angie," she mumbled.

Drake could still sense tension in the air, but decided to let matters lie for the time being.

"Well then," he said cheerfully. "Problem solved---I _hope_. Dinner won't be ready for half an hour, so you girls have a little time left to play.  
But be nice, okay?"

As soon as her father left the room, Gosalyn sighed with relief and slumped down on her bed. "Nice save," she said slowly to Nega-Gosalyn.

"I just didn't want you getting in trouble because of me," her opposite said pointedly. "If you think I did it because I'm scared of you, I'm _  
not_. I lived with Negaduck, remember?"

Gosalyn had to laugh a little about that. "Yeah…I guess after Negaduck, there's nothing left to scare you, huh?"

Nega-Gosalyn gave a slight smile. "Not _much_. Look, Gos," she continued anxiously, "I don't think your dad wishes you were like me. But  
I know how you feel. Negaduck wished _I _was different. He even told me so, over and over."

Gosalyn listened with interest, not surprised at anything hurtful Negs might have said; though of course Nega-Gosalyn's sweet and polite  
ways must have grated on _him _worse than anybody else.

"I…I even _tried _to be bad sometimes, just to please him," her twin said sadly. "But it didn't really work. Besides, this is just the way I am,  
Gos."

"Well, _this _is just the way _I _am," Gosalyn insisted. "But I don't think Dad gets that. _That's_ what I'm worried about, you know? He always  
wants _me _to be polite and neat and stuff…"

"I guess that's just how fathers are…the _good _ones. But Gosalyn, Uncle Drake loves you. I'm not taking that away from you. I'm even kinda jealous of you…"

Gosalyn was startled. Nega-Gosalyn---jealous of _her_?

"You see, Gos," Nega-Gosalyn explained, "_you _got to have Darkwing for a dad. And he'll always be your dad, no matter what."

There was a note of sadness in the remark that touched Gosalyn, who could understand all too well how it had felt to be lonely and  
alienated. Maybe she _could _try just a little harder to get along with this kid.

"I'm sorry I got mad, Angie," she said, smiling at last as she went to her closet. "Come on, I'll show you how to play Whiffle Boy---if you  
can help me _find _him first."

-----------

"The girls okay?" Launchpad asked Drake as he came into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I think so. Though it doesn't look like Gosalyn's adjusting at all. It's a little weird for me, too," he admitted, "but _I've_ managed to  
get a handle on this thing. I just wonder if Gosalyn's even trying… I _know _this is hard on her, Launchpad," he continued, "but what else  
can I do? Angie needs a loving home, too!"

"Well, I reckon Gosalyn's just used to being the only kid here. But you're doin' the right thing, or tryin' to. Heck, poor lil' Angie's gotta live _somewhere_."

"Sure, she does. I've tried to make Gosalyn understand that. But it's just been the three of us for so long, and now that's changed. And obviously, that's tough on her…"

Indeed, it was---and in the days to come, things would become tougher still for the Mallard adoptee.

Keeping in mind her father's advice, and going by her own experience, Gosalyn made at least a reasonable effort to get along with her  
opposite. Yet even her best intentions couldn't chase off the anxious doubts that wrestled in her heart---nor the reality that her world  
had now changed.

And indeed, the change became more drastic as the days went by. Once Nega-Gosalyn was registered in school, much to Gosalyn's  
dismay her twin even outshined her in the classroom---though of course she didn't mean to. "Angie" got the good grades in spelling  
and math, and the teachers asked Gos why she didn't do as well as her "cousin". The one advantage Gosalyn had was Physical Ed,  
but she still had to put up with mean remarks about her "geek" cousin who couldn't play sports. She didn't feel much like arguing,  
though, since Nega-Gosalyn often embarrassed her by the way she dressed---and her klutzy attempts at trying to be athletic.

But it was at home that the situation became harder to bear day by day. Gosalyn would hear many a remark in favor of "Angie",  
with special emphasis on her tidiness and manners. Such remarks were often in response to something Gosalyn had done, or _  
hadn't _done, to displease her father.

"Gosalyn, why don't you clean your room? _Angie _keeps it picked up so nicely!"

"_Angie _doesn't mind taking a bath."

"Gosalyn, eat your vegetables---_Angie _ate all hers."

It wasn't that Drake was trying to be cruel. He loved Gosalyn with all his heart and only meant well. He wasn't the most tactful  
of people, however; and he was quick to pass judgment---and _far _too quick to let his emotions rule over his common sense. By  
constantly comparing the two girls, it was only in Drake's mind to improve Gosalyn's behavior. Surely, he thought, she must feel  
secure enough about her life that she could sense his better intentions.

But as he would soon discover, he had sadly misjudged his daughter's heart.

It finally got to the point where Gosalyn would actually avoid her twin, especially since now Honker and his parents were paying  
too much attention to "Angie". Much as Nega-Gosalyn enjoyed their kindness (a far cry from their behavior in the Negaverse), it  
saddened her to see Gosalyn unhappy. She tried as much as possible not to get in her opposite's way or to do anything to make  
matters worse.

However, she herself was starting to find out that not _everything _in the Normalverse was better than in her own dimension…

Despite everyone's best efforts to keep Nega-Gosalyn away from Tank, it wasn't long before shehad the misfortune to cross paths  
with him. It was late one Saturday afternoon, and Gosalyn had run off to the park to play street hockey with Honker and her other  
friends.

By this time she'd become totally fed up with Nega-Gosalyn, and the way everyone held her up as an example. Even Launchpad,  
who was usually Gosalyn's ally, now seemed to have turned on her. That morning he had tried to get her to help with the breakfast  
dishes; when she made one of her usual excuses to avoid the job, Launchpad reasoned: "But Angie _always _helps me out, Gos." He  
had not meant that in an unkind way, but the duckling was angry and hurt all the same.

So that afternoon, she quickly rushed out of the house with her hockey equipment before Drake had the chance to say anything---_and _  
before Nega-Gosalyn could ask to tag along. Once and for all, Gosalyn was going to get away from her annoyingly sweet twin, if only  
for a couple of hours. When Honker asked if "Angie" was coming to watch them play, Gosalyn requested that he shut up.

Shortly after Gosalyn had left, Drake came into the living room and found Nega-Gosalyn gazing wistfully out of the window---and no  
sign of his daughter.

"Where's Gosalyn, honey?" he asked.

"She left," sighed Nega-Gosalyn. "I saw her go up the street with Honker."

"She left _without _you? Well, that wasn't very nice!" Drake declared with a frown. "Didn't she even ask you to come along?"

The curly-haired duckling shook her head solemnly; but not wishing Gosalyn to get into trouble, she smiled a bit and said that it was  
all right. "She knows I don't like hockey, Uncle Drake."

"Well, she might have asked you anyway, just to be polite," insisted Drake, indignant that Gosalyn had flatly "ditched" her twin. "I've  
a good mind to ground her when she gets home!"

"Please don't be mad at her, Uncle Drake! Maybe she just needs to be by herself right now," begged Nega-Gosalyn, hugging him around  
the waist. She looked up at him, her sweet blue eyes pleading, and the mallard felt his anger melting away.

"Okay then, sweetie," he said, laughing. "I'll let it go this time…" But as he was returning Nega-Gosalyn's hug, he noticed a small, round  
object lying by the front door.

"Huh…Gosalyn _was _in a hurry," Drake remarked. "She left without her hockey helmet, of all things!Well, she'd better not play without it;  
I'll have to bring it down---" Then he smiled at Nega-Gosalynas an idea struck him. "Tell you what, kiddo---how about if _you _take it to her?"

She brightened up at the prospect, though at the same time she wasn't sure Gosalyn would want her showing up. Maybe if she just  
stayed long enough to drop off the helmet, that wouldn't be a problem. "Sure, Uncle Drake. And I'll come right back, okay?"

"Okay, hon," he answered, smiling as he watched Nega-Gosalyn grab the helmet and eagerly rush out. But after she had left, he  
sighed heavily as he pondered his daughter's behavior.

It was becoming more and more obvious that the new living arrangement wasn't working out. But what could he do about that?  
Nega-Gosalyn needed him as much as his own daughter. To change that in any way would surely devastate her. The cruelty her  
"guardian" had shown her---and that might have worsened in time---made Darkwing determined that no matter what, Nega-Gosalyn  
must never, _ever _return to the Negaverse.

Well, if all else failed, he thought simply, there was always family counseling…though good luck explaining that 'alternate universe' thing  
to a _psychiatrist_, of all people.

-------------------

When Nega-Gosalyn reached the park, she caught sight of Honker still putting on his hockey equipment. Gosalyn was already playing  
some distance away and had not yet seen her twin.

_I'll just leave the helmet with Honker, _Nega-Gosalyn thought with relief. _Then I can go straight home and I won't bother Gosalyn…_

"Oh hi, Angie!" Honker said, smiling as she came up.

"Hi, Honker. I just came to bring Gosalyn her helmet. Could you take it to her?"

"Sure! Would you like to stay and play with us?"

"Um…no, thanks," Nega-Gosalyn replied, with an uneasy glance at Gosalyn. "I told Uncle Drake I'd come straight home. You and Gos  
have fun, though."

She gave Honker the helmet and turned to leave, when a large body blocked her path. Nega-Gosalyn glanced up to see a face familiar  
to her; and in her own dimension, a face gentle and kind. But _this _face was contemptuous and brutal---and so were the words it spoke.

"Hey!! Who invited _you_, Tinkerbell?" snarled Tank in an ugly voice.

"_Tank?" _stammered Nega-Gosalyn, frightened and bewildered at such nastiness from a boy whose Negaverse opposite had been a  
caring and faithful friend to her.

"Who else?" sneered the big boy. "So _you're _Gosalyn's geeky cousin, huh? No wonder she didn't wanna bring you down here!"

"Leave her alone, Tank," pleaded Honker.

"You gonna _make _me, shrimp? Hey, guys!" Tank announced to the other players. "Looky here! The little nerd-bomber came to play with  
us!"

The other children stopped their game to gawk at the little girl in her pink and white dress, and several of them laughed. Gosalyn  
abruptly stopped playing and came up, frowning.

"Angie? What are you doing here?" she demanded.

Nega-Gosalyn, completely shaken by now, tried to explain; but Tank broke in with, "What do you think, Gos? She's here to be the  
_cheerleader_! All she needs are _pom-poms_ to go with that pukey outfit!"

"_Shut up!" _snapped Gosalyn, both angry and embarrassed. She was about to bark at Nega-Gosalyn to go home and leave her alone,  
but the words stuck in her throat when she saw that her twin was beginning to cry.

"I'm sorry, Angie," Honker declared sadly as the curly-haired duckling started to walk away.

"_I'm_ sorry too, _Annnn-_gie---sorry you're such a geek! Yeah, _go _home, you little crybaby!!" Tank bellowed cruelly when Nega-Gosalyn,  
sobbing, broke into a run.

"I hope you're happy, you big jerk," Honker muttered to his brother.

Tank glared down at him, since his little brother rarely _ever _talked back to him. "Maybe I am!" he retorted; but Honker bluntly ignored  
him.

"What are you doing, Honk?" asked Gosalyn, who had stopped staring after Nega-Gosalyn long enough to notice her friend removing  
his hockey equipment.

"Sorry, Gos…I just don't feel like playing anymore today," Honker replied. With a last disgusted glance at Tank, he collected his gear  
and walked away from his friends.

"Oh, _great_!!" snapped Gosalyn, throwing down her hockey stick. But the game had been ruined anyway, thanks both to her twin's  
appearance and Tank's oafish hijinks. Besides, there was a 100% chance that her father would hear about the incident, and would  
demand to know how she could have gone on playing after Tank had been so cruel to her "cousin". She might already be in trouble  
for leaving without Nega-Gosalyn in the first place---so the less she looked like the villain, the better.

Fuming, Gosalyn picked up her own equipment and trudged out of the park, feeling that her whole day had been completely ruined.

Unfortunately, the day wasn't over yet.

------------------------

Drake was in the den reading when he heard the front door burst open, and a pair of little feet rushing upstairs. The sounds were too  
urgent to be ignored, and he quickly went up to the girls' room to find Nega-Gosalyn sobbing in her pillow.

"Angie! Oh honey, what happened?" was his worried question as he took the heartbroken duckling into his arms. She told him about  
meeting Tank at the park, and a fresh flood of tears followed as she recounted the awful things he'd said. Drake's heart sank; he had  
forgotten that Tank might be at the park.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," he said gently, hugging her. "I hadn't even thought about Tank. We _tried _to keep you away from him…"

"Oh Uncle Drake, he was _so_ mean to me!! He's nothing like Tank in the Negaverse," she cried. "In fact, he's just about as mean as  
Negaduck!"

In truth, Negaduck would have made Tank look like a choirboy, but Drake could certainly see the point.

"I thought things would be _better _when I came here," Nega-Gosalyn insisted, sniffling. "That's why I left the Negaverse."

"But many things _are _better, sweetheart. I know you miss your friends in the Negaverse, but I'm sure you don't miss all the hateful  
people that made your life miserable. You're really better off here."

Yet Nega-Gosalyn was beginning to doubt that. Yes, the Normalverse _was _an improvement from her world---as far as her surroundings  
and most of the people. Then of course, _here _was her beloved Darkwing, and her dream of meeting him had finally come true. But it had  
also complicated the lives of everyone involved; and now, there had been the shock of meeting Nega-Tank's most unpleasant alter-ego.

Anxious to cheer up the unhappy little girl, Drake smiled kindly as he thought of something.

"I'll tell you what, Angie…how would you like to go on patrol with me? I know it's early yet, but what the hey!"

His words had just the effect on Nega-Gosalyn that he hoped for. _"Really?" _she exclaimed, her eyes shining. "Just you and me?"

"Just you and _moi_, kiddo!" he declared, grinning as he took her hand. "So go wash your face, then off to Darkwing Tower we go!"

--------------------------------------------

Nega-Gosalyn's heart swelled with happiness as she rode with Darkwing through the streets of St. Canard. The chance to so privately  
share her hero's adventures well made up for the disastrous encounter with Tank. This, she felt, had been her ultimate goal in her journey  
to the Normalverse.

Meanwhile, Gosalyn had decided to stop for a slice of pizza on the way home, and talked Honker into joining her. As they were leaving,  
Honker noticed two familiar figures coming up the street.

"Hey, Gos, there's your dad!" he declared. "And that looks like…_Angie_?"

He quickly wished he'd kept his beak shut. Gosalyn turned and saw Darkwing zooming along in his Ratcatcher; and sitting beside him---  
where she _herself _usually sat---was Nega-Gosalyn, smiling merrily and glancing adoringly at her hero. As Gosalyn stared unbelievingly at  
the two, a bitter pain shot through her and her chest began to heave.

"Are you okay, Gosalyn?" asked Honker, worried at the look on his friend's face.

But Gosalyn _wasn't _okay. She was thinking of how often she'd had to _beg _her dad to bring her along on his nightly patrols, and how often  
his answer had been: _No, Gosalyn, it's too dangerous_; or _No, Gosalyn, this is a school night and you need to be in bed, _etc. etc_. _Yet now, there  
was Nega-Gosalyn riding with him in broad daylight, and apparently, _she _hadn't had to beg---unless she'd said "Pretty please!" or some  
other sugary comment that would certainly make Darkwing give in.

_Well, __**yeah! **_Gosalyn thought with despair. _**She's**__ all goody-goody and polite…just like Dad always wanted __**me**__ to be! _

_Maybe…maybe now he wishes __**'Angie' **__was his little girl…instead of __**me!**_

Hot tears sprang to her eyes at the very thought. She threw down her slice of pizza, her appetite gone; and as Honker followed  
anxiously, Gosalyn quickly ran for what had _once _been a happy home…

_**End Chapter 11  
**_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So sorry to make everyone wait for this latest chapter!! I hope to get to Chpt. 12 soon, but it's going to get _really _angsty and complicated  
at this point. Not to mention, _Ludwig and Matilda: A Love Story _is still in progress (with six or more _other _stories waiting in the wings!). What  
with that, the holidays and real-life getting in the way, as always I'm asking that you _please _be patient about updates, kay? (Thanks!)


	12. Chapter 12

**Concrete Angel**

A _Darkwing Duck_Fanfic  
By LuvvyDuck

Darkwing Duck is (c) by Disney. This story is (c) by yours truly.

**Chapter 12**

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand;  
the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.  
_-George Elliot_

* * *

"Feel better now, sweetie?" Darkwing asked Nega-Gosalyn as the Ratcatcher raced back to Darkwing Tower.

"Oh, yes. Ever so much better!" the little duckling said happily. "I've always dreamed of going on patrol with you, Darkwing!"

"Well, it was my pleasure. I know you had a rough afternoon, so I hope this made up for it somehow. And honey," he added gently, "try not to let Tank get you down; at least you know he's a nice boy in your own world. There are plenty of kind people around who care about you, so you'll be okay."

Nega-Gosalyn smiled, even though Darkwing's words made her obliged to miss her friends back in the Negaverse. "Thanks for taking me with you, Darkwing," she declared, hugging him. "Can we do this again soon? And bring Gosalyn along too?" She felt a bit guilty to have had Darkwing all  
to herself, pleasant though it had been.

"Of course," the hero assured her as he returned her hug. "Now, I've got to check up on some things here in the Tower, but I'll be back in a little bit. You remember how to get back to the house, don't you?"

"Sure."

"Ok. See ya later, kiddo." But after Nega-Gosalyn left, Darkwing shook his head solemnly as he pondered over the day's earlier events.

He fully intended to speak to his daughter about the incident with Tank at the park. It might be a good idea to talk to Honker and his parents as well, since this time Darkwing felt that Tank's bullying had gone too far. Gosalyn could fairly hold her own against the Muddlefoot teen; but  
while Nega-Gosalyn had been accustomed to Negaduck's cruelty, to experience it from her own friend's opposite must have been all the more traumatic.

At least Darkwing had been able to take some of the pain away...little realizing that he had caused pain to someone else in the process.

* * *

Nega-Gosalyn returned to the Mallard house and was humming cheerfully to herself as she went upstairs. But when she reached Gosalyn's room, the curly-haired duckling was shocked to find the whole place in a dreadful mess. The toys, clothes and other items that she and Drake had so carefully put away were now all strewn about, with soda cans and an uneaten jelly sandwich stashed under the bed for good measure. In the middle of all this shambles sat Gosalyn; her eyes, still moist from crying, now glared bitterly at her twin.

"Have fun with my dad today?" she spat sarcastically.

Her opposite blinked anxiously, not knowing what to say, but Gosalyn saved her the trouble. "Me and Honker saw you downtown!" she blurted. "I have to _beg _Dad to let me go on patrol with him, but most of the time he says no. But it's okay if _you _go, huh?"

Nega-Gosalyn stared down at the floor. "But…but Gos," she stammered, "Dad-uh, Uncle Drake was only trying to make me feel better after what happened with Tank at the park-"

"Well, it's all your stupid fault, Angie!" snapped the other duckling. "Why'd you come down there anyway? You don't even like sports. And I wanted some space, for cryin' out loud!"

"I know, Gos. But you needed your hockey helmet. Dad-I mean, Uncle Drake-he told me to-"

"I don't care, and _stop calling him Dad!" _Gosalyn exploded. "He's _my _dad, not yours!"

To say that Nega-Gosalyn was hurt would be an understatement. She stared at her twin, too stunned to even cry for the moment. Unfortunately, Gosalyn wasn't through yet. All the angst, envy and resentment she'd felt about her look-alike-but had fought to suppress-now came to  
a head, and she was certainly in no mood to hold it back.

"I wish you never came here," she finally retorted. "You don't belong here and you know it, Angie! I wish you'd go right back where you came from and leave us alone-everything was just fine with me and Dad until _you _got here!"

"_Gosalyn!"_

Both girls looked up to see Darkwing and Launchpad in the doorway. Gosalyn's angry yelling had alerted the two upstairs, giving Darkwing no time to change clothes; but now he stared open-mouthed at the incredible clutter as he walked into his daughter's room.

"What happened to this place?" he exclaimed. "Gosalyn, did _you _do this?"

That was the final straw for Gosalyn.

"Well, it sure wasn't Angie, _was _it, Dad!" she cried. "'Cause everything she does is so perfect, right? Well," she concluded as fresh tears  
rolled down her face, "why don't you adopt _her _and take me back to the orphanage where you found me?"

She rushed out of the room before her startled father could reply. Seeing the crushed look on Nega-Gosalyn's face, Darkwing was torn  
between comforting her and going after Gosalyn, but he knew he couldn't take the chance of Gosalyn running away from home, or worse.  
In the state she was in right now, God only knew what she might do.

"I've got to go after her, LP," he told Launchpad. "Take care of Angie till I get back." He gave the little girl a pitying glace, then ran out of  
the room, anxiously calling his daughter's name.

Nega-Gosalyn watched him leave, wishing she could follow him; but this time, she was sure, her presence would only make the situation  
worse. Launchpad put an arm around the unhappy child.

"It'll be okay, kiddo," he said gently. "What happened, anyhoo?"

"I messed up." The little girl sighed heavily. "I shouldn't have bothered Gosalyn at the park…or gone out on patrol with Darkwing."

"This ain't your fault, sweetie."

"But now Gosalyn thinks her dad doesn't care about her anymore," Nega-Gosalyn insisted. "Why would she think that? Doesn't she know Uncle Drake loves her?"

"Well ya see, Angie," Launchpad explained, "Life ain't been too easy for Gos. She lost _her _mommy and daddy too, and then a buncha bad guys killed her grandpa. She went through a whole lotta scary stuff before DW got to be her daddy…"

While the two cleaned up the messy room, LP talked about the time Taurus Bulba and his henchmen had tried to kidnap Gosalyn, and the harrowing events that followed, including that terrible moment when Launchpad and Gosalyn both thought Darkwing had lost his life in the final battle with Bulba.

"After it was all over," the pilot went on, "DW adopted Gos and made me his sidekick. So it's just been the three of us for a good while. But I don't think Gosalyn ever got over that bad stuff that happened to her, and I guess she's just scared of losing her family again. An' the thing is," LP concluded sadly, "she really don't need to be."

Nega-Gosalyn was astonished and touched by the story. She had always pictured her opposite's life with Darkwing as nothing less than  
idyllic, so painful had been her own existence with Negaduck. She could not have even imagined that Gosalyn's past had also seen its  
share of tragedy and terror, and she wished she had learned of all that earlier. If Nega-Gosalyn had fully understood her twin's anxiety  
about sharing her home and family, she would have done all she could to remedy the situation.

She thanked Launchpad and went downstairs. By this time, Darkwing had managed to keep his daughter from running off and brought  
her back to the house. Hearing their voices in the kitchen, Nega-Gosalyn decided not to interrupt them; but she couldn't resist listening  
outside the door, even though Darkwing had once scolded Gosalyn for the same thing-warning that eavesdroppers usually wound up  
getting hurt. His warning was usually ignored, and normally Nega-Gosalyn would have been more obedient.

She would quickly wish she had been.

"Gosalyn, I know you tore that room apart because you're jealous and hurt," she heard Darkwing saying gently.

"Well yeah, Dad. How would _you _feel?" Gosalyn replied, sniffling. "You always say 'no' when I wanna go out on patrol with you."

"_Not _always," the hero insisted, "but it's usually at night when you want to go with me, when it's the most dangerous. And you  
have school to think about the next day. I would have said 'no' to Angie too, in that case. Besides, sweetie, you _have _gone with  
me, many times-though often _without _my permission."

There was no point in denying that, of course. "But you're always making a big deal about all the good stuff Angie does," persisted  
Gosalyn, determined to justify her feelings. "She's all sweet and polite and neat and everything. And well…I'm not," she finished,  
her voice quavering.

Darkwing gazed sadly at her, now realizing his past mistakes, how his constant praises and comparing of Nega-Gosalyn's good behavior  
had alienated rather than edified his child. "Gosalyn, I was only trying to cheer Angie up. Tank was so cruel to her at the park, and she  
didn't need that after what Negaduck had put her through.

"But Gosalyn, do you think I adopted you because _you _were polite, or tidy, or wore cute little dresses? Now you know better than that,  
don't you? When I saved you from Taurus Bulba that time, I saw a brave little kid full of spirit, trying to take on a hard, tough world  
all by herself. I think when I saw you, I saw part of myself.

"But I also saw a little girl full of fun and with love in her heart. As much as I tried not to, I couldn't help falling in love with you, and it gave  
my life a real purpose. I felt ready to risk anything for you, even my own life. So don't you see, honey?" Darkwing finished, as Gosalyn's eyes  
lit up and she smiled at last. "I know I made a big fuss over Angie, and I do care about her. I can't help that. But-" he embraced Gosalyn protectively-"_you _are my little girl, Gosalyn. You always will be. Nothing and no one can change that...ever."

As a relieved Gosalyn hugged her father back, neither could see the sad little face peering around the kitchen door. Nega-Gosalyn slipped  
quietly back into the living room, and her heart was heavy as she slowly went upstairs. Her sadness was not from jealousy, however; not  
that she didn't feel at least some envy for Gosalyn, if only out of love for Darkwing. But what her twin had merely blurted out in grief and  
anger was a thing that Nega-Gosalyn already began to sense for herself, and wondered if now it was a truth she must learn to accept.

_You don't belong here…you don't belong here…_

And it seemed that even her much-loved hero had confirmed that belief.

Logically, she knew Darkwing still cared for her. He had certainly proved that often enough. But he was Gosalyn's father, after all; even  
if she were willing to share his attention, it seemed a lot to ask of her after what she'd been through. It had already begun to upset  
what had been, for Gosalyn and her family, a natural order of things.

Because the truth was, Nega-Gosalyn _hadn't _belonged in the Normalverse, and all the problems she had had there could not change the  
reality of that. Out of love for her hero, and in desperation to escape his evil counterpart, she had quite innocently trespassed her opposite's world. Even if she could find other people besides Darkwing to adopt her, it might not be wise to remain in a universe that had never really  
held a place for her. Moreover, her painful encounter with Tank had made it perfectly clear that some things had actually been better about  
her own world.

In spite of her guardian's harshness, life in the Negaverse hadn't been completely awful for Nega-Gosalyn. Besides Nega-Tank's devoted friendship, the little duckling had known the kindness of several other people who were as vastly different from their Normalverse opposites.

There was Nega-Beak, for instance, who always greeted his little friend with "How's ya doin', kiddo?" and took her out for ice cream, or to  
the movies. There was also Nega-Phoenix, who taught Nega-Gosalyn to paint and created many beautiful murals through town-before Negaduck's return had forced her to go in hiding. Then there was Nega-Tuskernini and his friendly penguins, who used to put on shows in  
the park. It would have horrified Nega-Gosalyn that all these nice people were ruthless criminals in Darkwing's world.

Last but not least, there was the Friendly Four, who all loved her and must surely be missing her. Needless to say, she missed them too,  
and hoped that they were all safe. As she thought about them, in fact, it happened that she spotted some familiar figures standing on a  
street corner just up ahead, and she gasped in delight as she recognized them.

_It's the Friendly Four, _she thought, _and they've come to take me home! _But why wasn't Nega-Tank with them? Perhaps he had stayed behind  
in the Negaverse to make sure they all got back safely…

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" she cried joyfully, running up to the group. They hardly had time to turn and stare at the child when she  
hugged a rather startled Bushroot.

"What the…? What are you doin' here, kid?" snapped Megavolt with a suspicious glare.

"Ooooh, look! Gosalyn's dressed up soooooooooo fancy!" Quackerjack said mockingly through Mr. Bananabrain. "Like little Shirley Temple!"

"Yeah, ya gonna sing a little song for us?" sneered Megavolt. "Maybe to stall us till _Darkwing Duck _gets here?"

The little girl stared at them in hurt and astonishment. Why were they acting so mean?

"Aw, don't pick on her, guys," Bushroot said. "I think she looks cute that way!"

"It's all an act, Bush-Brain," QJ declared with a smirk. "Darkwing's dressed her up like that to pull something on us!"

"A likely attempt to deceive us," agreed Liquidator. "Possible side effects: arrest, trial by jury, and time in prison!"

"But…but…_aren't _you the Friendly Four?" Nega-Gosalyn said anxiously. The group laughed, all except Bushroot (always the mildest of the  
group), who only seemed bewildered.

"_Friendly?"_snorted Megavolt. "There ain't _nothin' _friendly about us. We're the FEARSOME Four, you little brat!"

With alarm and dismay, Nega-Gosalyn realized she had blundered into the very criminal opposites of her dearest friends on Earth. As  
Megavolt and Quackerjack reached out to grab the little girl, she dashed away with a cry of fright, and only the thought that Darkwing  
might be setting a trap kept the Four from chasing after her.

"But she looked really scared," insisted Bushroot, always the most sensitive of the group. "She seemed so different, too…"

"Beware of imitations," warned the Liquidator.

* * *

By this time, Negaduck's obsessive hunt for his runaway ward had continued in earnest, and with grimmer determination than ever. To add to  
the mallard's outrage, he'd run into Steelbeak, who informed him that he'd seen "Gosalyn" riding around with Darkwing earlier.

"Ya should seen da cutesy get-up dat kid had on, heh heh heh heh heh….eh, what'td _I_ do?" whined the rooster after Negs had punched him in  
the face and sped off, cursing.

In his saner moments, Negaduck asked himself what drove him on, besides his unreasoning anger at Nega-Gosalyn for seeking out his hated enemy. He hadn't wanted the kid, after all-at least, that's what he'd been telling himself for some time. But if he had looked deeper within his twisted soul, he would have been quite shocked with what he might discover.

Perhaps it was the nightmares that spurred on his mad search; the horrible dreams that had gone on plaguing him since Nega-Gosalyn's disappearance. They were now getting worse, and stranger than before.

In his last tormented vision, Negaduck saw what he had seen too often: the battered woman lying bleeding and dead upon the kitchen floor;  
her child beside her, equally beaten and bloodied but still clinging to life. Again he saw the shadow of a drake glaring insanely down upon the bodies before heartlessly walking out the door. But lately, there had been yet another and even more disturbing figure...a pale stranger, dressed in white, who had stood gazing sadly upon this scene of mayhem…

Negaduck shuddered at the memory, for even though he hadn't remembered seeing that person before, there had been something ominously familiar about him. Little did he realize that the sequence of nightmares was connected directly with his relentless search, that in fact they were building up to a thing that waited at its end.

Just then, familiar voices interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, Negaduck!" called out Megavolt, as he and the rest of the Four ran toward their leader. "Wait up, will ya?"

"What do you knobs want?" snarled Negs.

"Guess who we just met?" Quackerjack declared with a wicked leer.

"Who cares? I don't have time for riddles!"

"Important announcement!" insisted Liquidator. "It was that little girl who always tags along with our archenemy, Darkwing Duck!"

"And she wore the cutest little dress," Bushroot recalled with a smile, just before Negaduck grabbed him by the throat.

"You _saw_her? Where is she? Was Darkwing with her?" he screeched.

"Uh, nope," put in a nervous Megavolt, seeing that Bushroot was literally too choked up to answer. "She was all by herself."

"Did you guys see where she went? _Answer me!_"

"Uh…toward the park, I think," Quackerjack said uneasily, seeing the maniacal fury in Negaduck's eyes. With a sneer of contempt and triumph, the evil mallard threw down Bushroot, jumped on his cycle and sped off.

Nega-Gosalyn felt a sense of relief when she finally reached the park; meeting her friends' malicious opposites had now made her all the more determined to return to the Negaverse. She would miss Darkwing, of course; and the kinder versions of Launchpad and the Muddlefoots (except for Tank). She could at least be glad that she had seen her hero once more, and experienced what had been half of a better world than she had known before. But the darker side of the Normalverse, made all the more obvious by her most recent shock, had proved beyond all doubt that  
returning to her own world was the right move after all.

As she began searching for the bush covering the portal, she felt some sadness at the thought of leaving Darkwing behind. But waiting for her were the friends she loved, and who loved her too. And somehow, she believed that the bad things about her world would not always be there. They had worked together to change things before; surely, they could do it again.

Suddenly, she recognized a shrub in one corner of the park, the very spot where she had landed that incredible day when she began her search for Darkwing. It had been a happier time, at least for a while…

Just as she was about to push the shrub aside, her heart almost stopped when she heard a familiar and brutal voice.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?"

The little duckling spun around to meet the glaring eyes of Negaduck. She began backing away from him, too frightened and dismayed to even talk at the moment.

"Whatsa matter? Didn't you miss me?" Negs demanded, sarcasm dripping from his words like venom from a snake's fangs. "And where's your hero Darkwing _now_? Guess he didn't want you, huh?"

"Go…go away!" pleaded Nega-Gosalyn.

"Oh, I'm going away, all right...but _you're_ going with me!"

He grabbed the little girl firmly by the arm, but she had found her voice at last and screamed bloody murder. _That _was startling enough to Negaduck, but when he tried to clamp her beak shut, she bit his hand and kicked his shin as hard as she could.

"You little..._get back here_!" he thundered as Nega-Gosalyn ran away, but before he could chase after the child, a large man grabbed him by the collar.

"Leave that kid alone!" the man ordered.

"What's going on?" asked a woman, as a crowd began to gather.

"This creep's trying to bother that little girl," the large man replied, as Negaduck tried to fight him off.

"Hey, I know that guy. That's Negaduck!" snapped another man. "guess he got tired of robbing banks and stuff...now he's a _child molester_!"

"What the…? Now wait a minute!" barked the evil mallard, surprisingly indignant at the accusation. He finally managed to break the man's  
hold just as the crowd started waving down a police car.

"Come back here, you dirtbag!" the man yelled as Negaduck ran frantically through the park, the crowd at his heels. They caught him twice and beat at him before he finally made it to the Troublemaker and drove away. _That's one more thing you'll answer for, you little snot_, he brooded as  
he glared around for any sign of his runaway ward, not to mention any police cars.

He wasn't the only one searching. Darkwing had been looking for Nega-Gosalyn for some time, with Launchpad and Gosalyn in tow. Gosalyn insisted on coming along, feeling responsible for "Angie" running off and hoping to make it up to her. For once, her father didn't have the heart to make her stay home. So anxious was Darkwing to find Nega-Gosalyn that he passed right by the Fearsome Four with barely a glance, and they were too astonished at his indifference to do little more than stare after him.

By this time, Nega-Gosalyn had nearly run her legs off, and stopped at a street corner to catch her breath. She kept careful watch for Negaduck; if somehow she could elude him, she might make it back to the park, back to her world and safely back to her friends…

"Angie!" called three familiar voices.

The child quickly looked up. There they were; Launchpad, Gosalyn (who now seemed more worried than angry), and her beloved Darkwing. But for once, she wasn't entirely happy to seem them.

"Angie, please don't leave us," Darkwing called across the street. "It's all been a misunderstanding!"

"I'm sorry we fought, Ang," added Gosalyn.

"Yeah, everything'll be okay, kiddo," promised Launchpad.

But now Nega-Gosalyn had made up her mind. "Thank you, but I have to go back now," she said with a sad smile. "I'm sorry."

"But Angie, I'm not mad at you anymore," Gosalyn pleaded. "You can come back home now."

"But it's _your _home, Gosalyn. And you were right, too. I don't belong here…I know that now. My friends are back in the Negaverse, where I really belong. And you belong _here_, with Darkwing."

"But you can't go back to the Negaverse, Angie!" Darkwing said anxiously. "What about Negaduck? What about the awful way things changed when he came back?"

"It'll be okay, Darkwing," Nega-Gosalyn insisted. "The Friendly Four and Tank will look after me, and we'll make our world the way it ought to be."

"Don't bet on it, kid!"

The voice was Negaduck's. He stood glaring down at her a few feet away; she hadn't even heard him coming. Neither had Darkwing, and he  
could have kicked his own tailfeathers for that.

"You leave her alone, Negaduck!" he warned angrily. His enemy shot him a venomous glare, and Nega-Gosalyn's heart lifted. Darkwing was  
still her hero, no matter what. But now she shrank back as the evil masked mallard approached her.

"Stay away from her, I said!" Darkwing growled in outrage. He made ready to dash across the street, in spite of the traffic. "She's not yours anymore!"

"Well, she sure isn't _yours_!" Negaduck growled back, his eyes blazing.

"Angie, don't go with him!" begged Gosalyn.

"We'll work things out somehow, Angie," Darkwing vowed. "I promise!"

"Shut up!" snarled Negs, and he rushed forward to grab the little girl. But the frightening prospect of being in her former guardian's  
clutches made Nega-Gosalyn forget the idea of going back to the Negaverse; her only thought now was being safe with her hero.

"_Darkwing_!" was her desperate cry as she dashed out into the busy street.

"No, Angie, _wait!_" Darkwing yelled frantically.

Nega-Gosalyn never saw the car coming. The driver hit his brakes as quickly as he could, but not before the front fender struck the little girl and sent her sprawling to the asphalt some feet away. A woman pedestrian screamed and several others stopped to gape in horror.

"_Angie! Angie!"_Darkwing screamed as well. Heedless of the traffic, which had now slowed down anyway, he ran into the street and crouched protectively over the tiny body. Amazingly, the child was still alive, but barely conscious.

"Darkwing," she whimpered as the hero took off his cape and covered her with it. Launchpad ran over, followed by Gosalyn, who was in tears.

"Oh Angie," she sobbed. "Oh God, I'm sorry!"

"Is…is she okay?" asked the driver of the car. He was pale and shaken. "She ran right out in front of me…I tried to stop, I swear…"

"It…it isn't your fault," Darkwing replied in a choked voice. "But please, call an ambulance…"

As the driver hurried back to call 911 on his cellphone, Darkwing wondered where Negaduck had gone. He glared up to find that Negs hadn't moved from the sidewalk, but stood as if frozen, staring hypnotically at the crumpled and bleeding little form in front of him. It was more than enough for Darkwing.

"You son of a…you did this! _You_did this!" he screeched as he ran over and punched his enemy full in the face. Surprisingly, Negaduck  
made little effort to fight back; but at the sound of ambulance and police sirens, he frantically scrambled to his feet and ran away.  
Darkwing desperately wanted to follow him and give him the beating of his life, but Launchpad held him back.

"Forget about him, DW," the pilot insisted. "The cops'll take care of him later. Gos and Angie need you now."

Resolving to deal with Negaduck as soon as possible, Darkwing returned to the tragic scene. He put an arm around Gosalyn and gently took Nega-Gosalyn's hand, staring down sadly at his broken little angel as the ambulance arrived...

_**End Chapter 12**_

_**

* * *

**_

As usual, everybody, I'm SO sorry this took so long to update! I've recently moved into another place (a hotel, actually), and I've been very  
busy with work and other things, so unfortunately I haven't had a lot of writing time. I'm hoping to (God willing) remedy that and finally update  
my other stories. But to those who patiently (or not) waited for this chapter, hope it's worth the wait! And don't worry, only two or three more  
chapters to go and this thing's finished. (WOO HOO!)


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